Wise Blood
by The Spork Warrior
Summary: After leaving his old biased school, Duo moves to a new town, where the supernatural has no problems hiding and causing problems (or solving them) for Duo and his newfound friends (2x1x2, DxR, 3x4x3, shounen ai and shoujo ai)Uprated to R
1. A New Town, A New Start

Title: Wise Blood

Author: heeroduo1x2x1

Genre: Humour/Romance/Supernatural/General

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the characters from GW. I do own, however, Astarte, and you can't have her!!

I was transferred to a new school shortly after my parents died. I guess I was happy to be away from that town and the memories it held, but I'd miss my outcast friends. The school I'd been going to was known for being separated by religious cliques. Considering I wasn't of any particular religion, and I believed that there wasn't a god, only a god of Death, I was shoved into the "Satan worshipping" category. I other words, anyone who wasn't Catholic, Christian, and Jewish was considered a Satan worshipper, even Muslims and Hindus. I had hated that, but I made some great friends because of it. Some of my friends were from those other cliques, but not many. It didn't matter though.

When I had to move away, I wasn't really sad. Sure, I'd miss the friends I did have, but I still had their phone numbers so it wasn't too bad. I was hoping that the new school wasn't like the last, and that I'd be able to be me without worrying about being beaten up by some guy who thinks I'm evil for not "accepting Jesus as my personal lord and savior."[1] I didn't want to have to go through all that again.

So as I walked into my new school, I was pleasantly surprised to immediately see a small cluster of girls standing together, all wearing pentagram necklaces. The were engaged in a serious conversation, it seemed, and I grinned widely knowing that this school was probably going to be better than the last. As I started to walk by, one of the girls glanced up and made eye contact with me. She was average height, and her gray eyeshadow made her blue eyes look sharp. There was laughter in her eyes as she glanced at my form and before I was able to figure out what was up, the short haired girl tore away from her friends and walked over to me.

"Hey! You're new here." She stated, not asking a question.

"Yeah, just moved here from Sirenna [2]." I replied giving her my widest grin, "I'm Duo Maxwell."

She beamed at me, "I'm Hilde Schbeiker," she glanced over at the other girls, gesturing for them to come over. One had the blondest hair I'd ever seen, and her eyes were like ice, while the other had extremely short black hair that she wore spiked and warm shining blue eyes, "And this is Dorothy Catalonia," She gestured to the blonde before pointing towards the black haired girl, "And this is Astarte Yuy." [3]

I nodded to them, and immediately Astarte grinned almost as widely as me, "Nice to meet you, Duo!" She leaned forward and examined my outfit, her eyes locking on the pentagram sweatband on my wrist momentarily before she proceeded to kneel down and play with the bottom of my pants.

Dorothy all but shrieked, "ASTARTE!"

I had no problem with it. As a matter of fact, it was pretty cool to be noticed immediately upon walking into the school. Astarte grinned at Dorothy before swirling me around and snatching my long braided hair. "How the hell'd you grow it this long, man?"

My answer was cut off as my eyes focused on an unruly haired guy walking towards us. His eyes were a dark shade of blue, and that gorgeous mop of hair was unexpectedly brown, despite his obvious Asian feature. I stuttered, and before I knew it, Astarte had dropped my braid and had all but charged the gorgeous guy down.

"HEERO FUCKING YUY!" She shouted, shoving him into a locker, "Why the fuck did you turn Hilde down?!"

I stared at them and Dorothy chuckled, "Aren't they the most pleasant siblings on Earth?"

[1] "being… savior.'" – No offence to any religious people out there; this is just accurate for some people, and it's not dissing any of the religions mentioned. This is based on something that happened to me a while back, when my best friend stopped talking to me because I'm not Christian. ::shrugs::

[2] "Sirenna" – Don't try looking this place up; It doesn't exist.

[3] "Astarte Yuy" – She's Heero's younger sister. I created her for a single purpose.

A/N: Yay!!! I wrote a chapter!! ::huggles the world:: It's a little weird but I like it so far. The next chapter will take place…. At a later time, but I don't know yet since I haven't written it yet. Oo Oh, and sorry for the shortness. I was just trying to get it started.


	2. The Mothership

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 2 – The Mothership)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

I woke up one morning nearly three weeks after transferring to Specter High School, and was barely able to comprehend the fact that it was Friday and that school was closed for some kind of town festivity. I did remember, however, that Hilde and the other members of "the Posse," as they were so affectionately called, had invited me to join them on a weekend trip to the shore. It was mid-September, and the weather hadn't started to really cool off yet. I was actually really excited to check out the shore, and what was more was the fact that Astarte's brother was joining us. This was probably the main reason I wanted to go, but I wasn't about to admit that to the Posse.

I glanced at my alarm clock and half yawned and half sighed when I saw that it was a little after eight o' clock AM, and that if I wanted to go on the beach trip, I had to get up. I pulled myself from the comfortable depths of my mattress and stepped onto the hardwood floor and all but dragged myself to the door. The hallway was scorching as I opened my bedroom door and I swore under my breath as I padded quickly to the bathroom down the hall. I heard my foster parents snoring as I passed their room, and heard the other kids in the large house giggle at something or other in _their_ room.

The bathroom's fluorescent lighting bugged my eyes as I flicked it on and easily turned the shower on and pulled off my boxers before stepping in under the warm spray of water. My foster parents thought that I took extremely long showers because of my 4 foot long hair, but that wasn't the case. I could be in and out of the shower in under ten minutes, even if I wash the massive amount of hair pouring out of my skull.

It was drying it that took so long. As a matter of fact, I had been out of the shower half an hour and drying my hair for twenty minutes when the Posse showed up at the front door. One of the other orphans under foster care in that particular house had ushered them in, and I didn't notice until I heard Hilde and Astarte whistle and make cat-calls from the open doorway of the bathroom.

"Whoa, Duo! You have a nice chest…" Hilde whistled before Astarte slapped her over the back of the head. I found myself grinning insanely as I turned the blow dryer off.

"Why, thank you! Is your chest anywhere near as nice, I wonder?" My grin widened at the scandalized look on her face.

"Mister MAXWELL!" She mocked shock and grasped her shirt in a dramatic way, "I will indeed say my chest is even NICER than yours!"

Astarte snickered, before Dorothy's voice resounded from just outside the room, "Oh, stop it. We need him to get dressed so we can _go_ already. Relena and Heero are out in the van waiting." She peaked her head inside, her eyebrows raised, "Duo, would you mind getting dressed and hurrying the hell up?"

I saluted to her, grinning and running a hand through my bangs. My hair was as dry as it was going to get with the blow dryer, and I scurried to my room to pull on a pair of black bondage pants and a random tee-shirt from my closet (which happened to be a Nirvana shirt). On my way out of the room I snatched my duffle bag and hair care products before following Hilde and the others out to the Mothership [1], pulling a brush through my hair as we went. I wasn't going to bother braiding it; it wasn't worth it. Instead I pulled it back into a loose ponytail as we reached the van.

Heero sat in the back, leaning against the metal wall as we pulled open the back latch and Hilde, Astarte and I clamored in. He nodded to us and I grinned widely at him, plopping down next to him I glanced around. Sitting in the front passenger seat, I saw Dorothy's kind-hearted girlfriend, Relena Peacecraft, her head buried in a book in her petite hands. My grin widened.

"Relena!" I stood up in the back, and scampered forward so I was between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, "How wonderful to see you this fine day!"

She turned to look at me, her blue eyes smiling along with her face, "Hello, Duo. I'm fine, thanks. Are you looking forward to the trip?"

"Damn straight!" I smirked as I heard Heero snort. He'd taken to doing that quite a bit. "It should be great!"

She smiled at me as Dorothy slid into her seat.

"Sit back before I kick your ass." She muttered, and I complied, sitting back down next to Heero.

Hilde sat across from me, and she smiled evilly as Dorothy put the van in drive and shot down the street, "Want to know something about the bed and breakfast we're staying at?"

I leaned forward after glancing at Heero, seeing that he was smirking at Hilde's words, "Sure!"

Her smile widened, "It supposedly haunted by the spirit of a woman who fell from the top floor to her death." She paused, checking my face for a reaction. I quirked an eyebrow, urging her to continue, "Well, the story goes that the woman was in love with two different men. One was her fiancé," She paused again, "While the other was her fiancé's best friend. She loved them both to the point where she couldn't choose between them and ended up jumping to her death from the 3rd floor of the building, right into the jagged rocks jutting out from the ocean. The bed and breakfast is on a beautiful cliff over-looking the ocean, and the 3rd floor balcony is easy to jump from right into the water. Today people claim to see her make her trek up the main stairs and onto the balcony, and you can hear her wail her lovers' names on her way down to the abyss of death."

I had chills by the time Hilde finished telling her tale, and I was eager to get the B&B. I grinned and leaned back, glancing again at Heero, "I can't wait to get there."

[1] "Mothership" – The name the Posse gave to Dorothy's old beat up van. It only has two seats, and the outside has a UFO airbrushed on.

A/N: ACK!! Two chapters in one day! I'm so happy! I could sing! ::sings:: Oo Hope you enjoyed. I'll have another chapter up soon!   


	3. Admiring the Stars Above

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 3 – Admire the Stars Above)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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By the time we all arrived at the Wiwa Bed and Breakfast, it was just pass lunchtime and my stomach was growling loudly in the back of the Mothership. I muttered to myself as we pulled up into the parking lot and dragged myself inside behind the Posse and Heero. I couldn't tear my eyes away form his lean muscled back, and I was probably drooling all over myself. He was an image of perfection, but I really wasn't sure if he'd really appreciate my attraction to him. I wasn't taking chances. He glanced back at me once, probably to make sure I was still there, but I said nothing.

The building we had just walked into grasped my attention immediately. I didn't know what it was about the place, but it was calling to me in an odd way. I almost completely forgot my hunger as I examined the old architecture of the building and I barely noticed Heero suddenly giving me concerned glances as I walked ahead of the Posse to examine the architecture further.

Dorothy went to the front desk as I hung around looking at things, telling the manager we were there or something like that. I wasn't paying any real attention to anything. I was so engrossed in the place, and even I didn't really know why. Hilde was the one to pull me out of my daze as she grabbed my arm and dragged me over to Heero.

She shoved me onto him and put her hands on her hips, "I want you two to go and get us some lunch. There's a Wendy's a few blocks away, you should get everyone a few hamburgers. Got it?"

Both Heero and I nodded mutely, and I blinked a few times to clear my mind as we walked out of the building and down the street. Dorothy had already told us we weren't allowed to drive the Mothership, so we walked the few blocks.

"You seemed out of it before." Heero said, and I turned to face him.

"Huh?"

"You weren't acting normal."

"Oh. I guess I was just amazed by the inn. I've never seen a building so beautiful. It just kinda called to be examined." I ran a

hand through my bangs.

"Hn."

I chuckled as I realized he wasn't going to say anything else.

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It wasn't until nightfall that we did anything interesting. Astarte wanted to go down to the beach and watch the stars, and we all agreed. However, we only had one problem.

All our bags had somehow ended up _outside_ the inn. We had no idea how they ended up out there, but by the time we found them we figured it was someone on the inn staff playing a practical joke on us. It seemed to be the most likely thing and pinning it on that, we changed into our swimwear and head down to the beach for some late night swimming and star gazing.

To say it was magnificently gorgeous there would be a vast understatement. The sand was nearly white from the light of the full moon and stars above and the ocean lapped calmly at the beach, the moonlight distorted on its waves. I glanced around from Hilde to Dorothy to Astarte to Relena, before my gaze stopped and lingered breathlessly on Heero. His chiseled features seemed sharper in the moonlight and I found that his profile was so much more perfect at night. If it hadn't been for the fact that I was responsible for starting a small fire, I would have continued gawking at his handsome form.

I sighed forlornly as I went about my duty and listened halfheartedly to their enthusiastic conversations. Hilde was talking animatedly to Astarte about what they planned to do for the weekend. Dorothy was whispering to Relena, and I could only guess what she was saying. But Heero wasn't getting involved in the conversations. His voice never said anything, and by the time I had a merry blaze going, he was laying on his back and staring up at the stars above. I grinned at the Posse and gestured to the happy fire as I kneeled down next to Heero and gazed up into the sky.

"They're beautiful." He breathed, and I turned my head to glance down at him as he darted his eyes slowly towards me. I grinned widely, following his example and laying back in the sand.

"Definitely." I sighed and traced a constellation with an index finger, "To think that stars are giant burning balls of hydrogen and other elements. Most little kids think they're fairies or something; I used to think they were the spirits of the dead. That idea kinda made them more stunning than thinking in terms of hydrogen."

He chuckled and turned his head to face me, "I used to think the stars were made of glitter."

I hadn't expected him to say anything in return to my comment, but I grinned as I continued to stare at the subject of our conversation. "Glitter, eh? That's better than my idea of them being souls."

"Souls make sense." Heero said simply, again looking at the stars intently. I stared at his profile for a long time as his eyes remained fixed on the sky. He was so glorious that it took a lot of effort to tear my eyes away from him and look back to the infinite spread of the heavens.

I don't remember dozing off, but it seems that I did, because the next thing I remember was Astarte shaking me awake and grinning widely. I muttered incoherently and swatted at her, but she dragged me to my feet.

"Duo! Look at the cliff!!" She whispered as I glanced around at the stunned group around me. She turned me violently around and I found myself staring as well, open mouthed.

Standing atop the balcony on the 3rd floor of the Wiwa Bed and Breakfast was a woman, her hair blown by a nonexistent breeze. Her sorrowful voice echoed down the cliff and across the beach and before we could comprehend what we were really seeing… She leaped from the balcony and out into the air, her hair flowing behind her as she wailed out slurred names and just before hitting the rocks she vanished, her wailing all that was left behind.

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A/N: I tried to make this chapter as long as I could. This fic probably won't be completely finished for a long time, and I can't believe I've written this much in such a short amount of time. Please review!


	4. Past Come to Haunt

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 4 – Past Come to Haunt)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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The woman simply vanished, and Hilde looked like she was going into shock. Heero's eyes were wide, and his lips were slightly parted as he stared blankly at the cliff. Dorothy's expression was that different from Heero's, and she had her arms wrapped tightly around Relena, who looked as if she was going to faint.

Astarte however… She was practically jumping around in joy, grabbing hold of my shoulders and spinning me around. "Did you _see_ her?! That was the ghost Hilde was talking about! Oh my goddess! This is amazing, isn't this amazing?!" She released me and turned to face the shocked group, her jovial expression fading as she looked from the Posse to her brother. "Why do you all look so freaked out?"

Hilde chose this moment to awake from her shocked state, "We're freaked out because we just saw a fucking _ghost_!"

I took a shaky breath and let my eyes wander towards Heero. His face betrayed no shock, but his eyes were wild. "Heero?"

His face shot towards me and he blinked, "What the hell just happened?"

"I think we just saw the ghost haunting Wiwa." I deadpanned, glancing at the inn.

The others wanted to go to a new B&B. However, Astarte and I figured we should just stay where we were. The ghost, according to the manager, was really only active on the 3rd floor, and our rooms just happened to be on the 2nd floor. We didn't have to worry about pesky ghosties attacking us in our sleep. It took Astarte and I a while to persuade them to stay at Wiwa, but we eventually did it, and the remained of the weekend passed by almost uneventfully. At night we heard the wailing, but nothing bothered us in our rooms.

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When Sunday afternoon came around and we all piled back into the Mothership to head back to Spectra [1], we chatted animatedly about the ghost and Hilde and Astarte began bickering about the level of romanticism involved in the incident. I listened half-heartedly to them, glimpsing over to Heero. He'd been almost completely silent since the night we watched the ghost jump from the balcony, and I was beginning to worry for the stoic teen. He had been completely out of it, and as I listened to Hilde and Astarte, I turned to him and put a hand on his arm. He jumped at the touch, turning to glare at me. I grinned.

"You okay, man? You're quieter than usual." My concern was obvious in my voice.

He stared at me for a while, and I began to think he wasn't going to answer. I sighed and turned away, moving my hand away and leaning back against the metal wall of the van. I sensed that he was still staring at me, and he sighed as well.

"I'm just trying to understand what happened." He said, not elaborating. I didn't look at him.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know."

I shifted so that I was facing him, "I don't understand what happened either, Heero. None of us do. We just know we all saw the same thing, heard the same thing. Whether it was a ghost or just an echo of the event, who the hell knows? But we're just as confused as you."

He nodded, his cobalt blue eyes locking with mine. He blinked, "Your eyes are purple."

I laughed at the sudden change in topic, "Geez, man. That was unexpected." I grinned at him and slung an arm over his shoulders. "Unexpected, but I'm glad you noticed!"

The ride back home was like that most of the way. By the time we reached Spectra city limits, I had Heero involved in an intricate conversation and I wasn't willing to get out of that van and say goodnight to them when we pulled up in the driveway of my foster home. Heero gave me a rare smile, and I smiled back as widely as I could before grabbing my duffel bag and rushing towards the house.

I fell asleep to the image of Heero smiling at me.

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[1] "Spectra" – I made a typo in the previous chapters, the town is called Spectra, not Specter…. Oops.

A/N: Eeek!! Chapter 4!!! It's short, but it does it's purpose! Yay!! I'm getting far in this one! I'm on a role! Please review!! ::huggles::


	5. Not Quite Normal

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 5 –Not Quite Normal)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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It had been a week since the ghost incident. We decided not to tell anyone else about it, mainly because that would require answering questions we didn't know the answers to. Heero had begun spending more time with me than he did prior, which probably was the best thing to happen to me since moving to Spectra. He had started becoming more and more casual around me, and Astarte was the first (besides me) to notice.

"We should go ghost hunting." She suggested one day during lunch hour, and almost everyone at the table dropped what ever they were holding. I know I just stared at her, and Hilde and Dorothy (Relena had a separate lunch hour from us) actually gaped widely at her. Heero snorted and continued munching on the bag of chips he'd bought.

"Ghost hunting? You mean, like hunting ghosts?" I asked, leaning back in my chair.

She nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! We could take pictures of supposedly haunted places, and maybe even try and help the ghosts, you know? It'd be really interesting!"

Heero looked thoughtful, even with the chip half-hanging out his mouth. I didn't know what he was thinking, and I didn't ask. I just turned my attention from Astarte to Heero, and watched him silently before I muttered to his sister, "I guess that would be pretty cool."

Hilde and Dorothy came out of whatever daze they were in enough to glare and start arguing with Astarte. They seemed intent on getting Astarte to realize the dangers involved in ghost hunting, and how it's also a very expensive hobby to start. She retorted saying she could get some rich kid or Relena to buy all the equipment.

 I tuned them out and snatched a chip from Heero.

"Hey, that was mine." He complained, moving to snatch it back. I shoved it in my mouth and grinned, crunching away on the chip as he glared at me. The glare suddenly became a mischievous smirk, and I became very nervous very fast. He leaned forward and locked eyes with me, "I want my chip back."

I swallowed, and before I could react he had attacked my lips with his own, running his tongue along the skin. I hadn't expected that, but I definitely wasn't complaining. His lips were soft and I just wanted to lean forward and devour him. However, Heero had other ideas and leaned back, causing me to loose my teetering balance. The girls stopped arguing and I fell over out of my chair and onto the floor, my face feeling very warm and my mind incapable of forming a coherent thought. Heero just smirked.

"I got my chip back." He chuckled and Hilde practically had a heart attack.

"Holy shit, Heero! Did you just kiss Duo?!" She shrieked, glancing down at me (I was still on the floor).

Heero raised an eyebrow and smirked even wider, "No. I just licked the salt off his lips."

I hit my head on the floor before I dragged myself back into my seat as Dorothy looked between us and Astarte started yelling at her brother for "cleaning Duo's lips without his permission," using her exact words. I just stared blankly ahead, still feeling his lips on me. I was so lost in my musings that I almost missed the appearance, and I mean that literally, of a little red haired girl standing off to Astarte's left. She was just standing there, staring at us, and I focused on her and again fell out of my chair. The Posse turned to look at me.

"What the hell's wrong now?" Astarte demanded, her hands on her leather-clad hips.

I continued looking at the little girl; she was mildly transparent, "Nothing much," I couldn't move, "There's just a ghost standing right next to you."  

Astarte turned her head.

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A/N: Short, but I need to write whatever's on my mind down, since with a short chapter I have less of a chance of getting writer's block. Still a chance, but it's a lot smaller. This is kinda cliffhangerish, I guess. Geez, it's amazing that I've done 5 chapters in 2 days. I'm very pleased with myself. I deserve ramen. Read and review!


	6. Musings

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 6 – Musings)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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We had no idea how the other students in the cafeteria didn't see the vaporous apparition currently watching us with vacant eyes. Hell, we didn't know why we could see it. My embarrassment at being kissed by Heero faded to a very dull roar as Astarte stared at the figure. I had exaggerated in telling her it was right next to her. In actuality, it was a few steps behind her, and she had to turn her head to get a glimpse of it. She froze and turned to look at me with large eyes. Hilde and Dorothy seemed to be in similar states of shock, but I couldn't really tell since I wasn't facing them.

The ghost girl smiled impassively at me, her bland eyes never leaving mine. I felt as though my heart was being torn out while locked in her gaze, and I don't know why, but I found myself standing and almost mechanically attempting to go around the table. Attempting being the keyword here, as before I had even taken two steps, Heero had snatched my arm and pulled me back, turning my face towards him. His expression snapped me out of my daze.

Not looking back, I whispered to the girls (and Heero), "We need to leave the cafeteria, _now_."

Without waiting for a reply, I darted away, not wanting to think anymore of what I had just seen.

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I don't think something like that is easy to forget. I mean, how often do you see a fucking _ghost_ examining your lunch table? Not that often, I'd assume. By the time the last bell rang, I was more than slightly eager to get home and try and forget about the red-haired little girl, but I couldn't. Something about my reaction to her gaze intrigued me, and I couldn't rest until I knew why.

Regretfully, the ghost wasn't the only thing attacking my brain that night as I sat on my bed doing the mountain of homework that had piled up over the course of the day. The Chip Incident (as Astarte so affectionately called it) was nearly as prominent as the ghost issue. Actually, to tell the honest to goodness truth, I was fucking _obsessed_ with the thought that Heero had oh-so-casual attacked my lips. I think that shocked me more than the appearance of a translucent elementary school girl, and considering that that was pretty damn freaky… Sometimes the craziest shit happens when you least expect it.    

God dammit, his lips were wonderful. I wanted Heero to kiss me again, only I wanted him to _kiss_ me, not jokingly "lick" (I argued with Dorothy about it afterwards. She said it was a lick) my lips. Before the Chip Incident, I mostly had a crush on him (with a bit of Heero-centric[1] fantasies, added in there… What? I'm a teenager! I'll jerk off if I want!), but after the Incident… That's when it went from a little crush, to being something a lot more complicated. I was falling in love with him. All because the bastard decided to suck the salt off my fucking lips.

I sighed and stopped trying to solve the equation I was currently working on. With the way my thoughts were going (and the fact that my pants had grown mildly uncomfortable at the thought of Heero's lips on mine), I probably wasn't going to get much work done, if any at all. I had been staring at the first equation for who knows how long. Tossing the notebook on the floor I plopped onto my back on the bed, trying to ignore the discomfort (well… how about I say "pleasant discomfort" instead?) that the pants had on my quickly hardening member. This was so not the best time.

I muttered to myself, rolling onto my side, "Think un-sexy thoughts…"

I promptly began forming images of my foster parents having hot and wild monkey sex. That quickly extinguished any sexual thoughts I had been thinking on. Hell, I probably wouldn't be horny for the rest of the week, even if Heero suddenly appeared in nothing but his birthday suit and smothered in chocolate sauce.

Of course, that had been a hypothetical "rest of the week." As if on some kind of strange cue, a gentle but firm knocking was heard on my bedroom door. Thinking it was one of the other foster kids (probably Trowa Barton, this really tall guy with weird hair), I pulled open the door and tried to look exhausted. Instead of the uni-bang I was expecting to see, I came face to face (I wished it was mouth to mouth) with the object of my unhealthy infatuation. I had no idea why he was there, but I wasn't about to complain. No part of me was about to complain.

Heero's lips twitched in an almost smile and I grinned widely, "Heero! What brings you here?"

"Thought I'd check up on you." He paused looking me over casually, "You were spooked earlier."

"Of course I was spooked! Some freaky little ghost girl stares at me, I'm gonna be freaked!" I roared, moving away from the doorway and back onto my bed. I kept my eyes off of Heero, trying my hardest not to remember the Chip Incident. But when he walked all the way into my room and sat down on the bed next to me, I thought I would die from the sudden closeness. Why hadn't he affected me so much before? Why was him simply sitting next to me giving me a raging hard-on?

I felt him staring at me, but I continued looking anywhere but at him. I was trying to think of something to take my mind off his close proximity, but if you had someone that sexy sitting so close to you, would you be able to focus on _anything_ else? I sure as hell couldn't. I bit my lower lip to hold in a moan as he shifted slightly, his leg brushing against mine. Damn my hormones, damn them!

"Duo?" Heero's voice was low. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I almost had an orgasm at the casual touch.

My mind was running at 10 miles a minute, '_Oh god, oh god, oh god. This is too fucking much._' I turned my head towards him, but didn't look at him, "Y-yeah, H-Heero?"

He tried to make eye contact. I looked down. He sighed, "Are you mad at me or something?"

I almost laughed at that. '_No, I just want to fuck you senseless._' Shaking my head at the thought, I muttered, "Nope, not mad."

"Then what's wrong?" He sounded vaguely worried, but I still couldn't look at him for fear that I'd jump him.

"Nothing's _wrong_." It wasn't a lie, because nothing _was wrong_. I don't think falling in love with one of your best friend's brother (who's also one of those said best friends) and wanting to fuck him is really having something be wrong. Although some could argue that point.

"If you say so." He sighed, standing up. I sneaked a look at him as he stretched his arms over his head, my eyes locking momentarily on his lower back as his tee-shirt rose up with his arms. I pried my eyes away, feeling myself getting harder. There was no way thinking un-sexy would get this erection to go away. It was fucking _painful_.

I heard a sharp intake of breath and looked at Heero against my will. His eyes were focused on my crotch.

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[1] "Heero-centric" – I read that somewhere… it fit there, so I used it. Sorry if you're the person who came up with it! I'd give you credit, but I don't remember who's it is… Oo

A/N: Wow! I actually got reviews! I'm so happy! I was waiting until I got at least 5 to put up this chapter, but I got 11! ::grins:: Myca Thank you for the extremely long review! Those always make me happy! ::grins and devours the ramen:: You'll get your 3x4 soon, I promise! I just need to think of a good way to introduce the rest of the characters… Oo Oh, and you'll find out who the ghost is next chapter! Hells-angel8 Thank you thank you thank you for reviewing every chapter so far! Huge confidence booster! ::glomps:: oracale Short but sweet, thanks a bundle! TKM, Ladytigera21 I'm continuing, see? Ultra Rodimus Yes, another ghost! ::Grins::

This fic's gonna be around a while, as I have no ending in sight and a bunch of ideas! Should I hold through with my idea for the next chapter? Should it be a lemon or a limey scene? If a lemon, it'll be on MediaMiner(if I can bring myself to write one) the limey one will be here (what counts as lime?).

Oh, and as you can see, Duo is very different when left to his musings. I decided to add a bit more personality into this fic. Duo-sama was beginning to become kinda 2 dimensional. Now he's a normal horny 16 year old.  


	7. Interlude

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 7 – Interlude [clean version])

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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Heero was staring at my crotch.

_Heero_ was staring at _my_ crotch. I had the object of my affections in my room, staring at my clothed raging hard-on. All thoughts of ghosts and the supernatural, hell all thoughts in general took a vacation. All that remained on my mind was that one echoing fact: _Heero was staring at my crotch_.

Now there were three ways I thought this situation could turn out. One was that he would see that I was horny as hell, and he'd walk away and never talk to me again. Two was that he'd beat me up, _then_ walk away and never talk to me again. Final option? He'd do something to help relieve me of my sexual tension. The third was the least likely, while the second seemed to be the most.

He suddenly looked up and locked eyes with me, blinking slightly to remove the glazed expression. "Duo…?"

[Edited for content, for full chapter, please go to Mediaminer(it's an org) and read it under the name **_duoloveshiiro_**]

….I mean so loud that someone would have heard me.

And heard me someone did, because the next thing I knew, my bedroom door was slammed open and Heero was being pulled off of me by the back of his shirt. I scrambled to cover myself as I looked up at my foster parent (A very protective man name Leif) as he glared down at Heero, who looked shocked and unaware of what was going on. Leif reached down and grabbed Heero and all but dragged him out of the room. I winced as he slammed the door shut and he started yelling at Heero.

"GET OUT OF HERE! Next time I'll bring you up on RAPE charges!" Leif's voice echoed up from the front door as I hastily pulled my pants back on, stumbling towards the window. I watched as Heero was flung across the yard, his eyes wide and wild with fear as the door slammed. He stared for a long moment, before he looked up at my window and gave me a sad look. I can only imagine what I looked like mirroring his expression, as I mouthed, "See you tomorrow."

He nodded and forced a small smile before turning and walking down the street, only looking back once.

All thoughts of sex vanished.

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A/N: I'm sooooooooo sorry to do this! But a friend of mine was iced for writing something LESS descriptive, so I'm playing it safe. Anyway… yeah. This chapter's available in it's entirety on MM . org, so look there for the rest. You can review either there or here, doesn't matter. grins

Oo! Those who reviewed!

Hells-angel8 – Weee! Yeah Duo raging hard-on Heero = Yum. Lol Of course… the lemon will be later. This was just a teaser. (also a way for me to test how confident I am in my hentai abilities, lol) Thanks for so many reviews! glomps and grins

Inuyasha-Luv-Kagome - glomps I say random stuff like that too! (I even say the nose thing!!) I'd try replying to all your reviews but it's hard! cackles But I hope this chapter answered review #6. hentai grin


	8. What's the Worst That Could Happen?

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 8 – What's the Worst That Could Happen?)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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Not much had really changed between Heero and I. I guess most people would think otherwise, because how could something like that leave two people unaffected. Well, all you skeptics, I said "not much" had changed, signifying that something did indeed alter in our "relationship." (Friends to almost-fuck buddies in a single bound!)[1] The most obvious change was the fact that he wouldn't stop staring at me with lust and adoration. Not that I was complaining, oh boy, fuck no, _far from it_. It was just a little unnerving sitting in the middle of a class and feeling his eyes on the back of my head, not to mention that the freaking ghost girl from the cafeteria had taken to _following me around._ So rather than just having Heero's gaze making it hard for me to pay attention to class, I had this dead girl making me cringe while I was _trying_ to focus on anything _but._

So I was trapped between wanting to jump from my seat and take Heero right there is class, and wanting to get the hell out of that school to get the _fuck_ away from my dead stalker. It so not cool, and I didn't hesitate to bring it up after a week of dealing with it (During that week I was _very tempted_ to just throw Heero into a janitors closet. Twice.).

"That creepy ghost girl's been following me around." I complained to Hilde and Relena. (Dorothy and Astarte were currently trying to beat each others' asses at DDR in the local arcade.) Despite the fact that Relena hadn't been there the first time Little Miss Grim appeared, Dorothy had filled her in on the details (right down to me running form the cafeteria) and she had seen the ghost herself only a day later.

"Following you? Why would she be following you?" Relena asked incredulously, leaning back against the wall as we focused on Dorothy and Astarte.

I shock my head in frustration and sighed, "I don't know why! I don't even know who the fuck the twerp is!"

Hilde snickered at me, saying something and I glared half-heartedly at her. The loud sounds of the arcade dulled out what had passed her lips and I muttered incoherently as I hit my head against the wall. Maybe I should have just complained to Heero. 

Smiling slightly, Relena shook her head and glanced at the door before reaching an arm up and waving, "Heero! Quatre! Over here!"

I blinked, '_Quatre?_' but didn't vocalize my confusion as I turned to get a better look at the door. Of course, Heero was walking towards us, his hands in his pockets and his eyes focused on me, but next to him was a kid I definitely didn't recognize. The kid (teenager?) had short (yet still kinda long) corn silk blond hair, aquamarine eyes and the sweetest expression known to man. He looked like a freaking angel, and as the pair of them reached us he smiled widely at Relena, even as Heero came up behind me and wrapped his arms loosely around my waist. Hoh boy, wasn't expecting that.

"Miss Relena! Hello!" Blond Boy Quatre exclaimed, practically tackling poor Relena to the ground. She didn't seem to mind and returned the huge hug anxiously.

"Oh, it's been so long since I last saw you! How's your father? And Iria?" Relena bounced on the balls of her feet and I sighed, tuning out the conversation. I didn't know who this kid was, so I wasn't really up for eavesdropping.

It took me a moment to realize that Hilde was gawking at Heero and I. When I did realize, it was only because she had side-stepped the blondes and stood before us, her eyes focusing pointedly on Heero's hands draped across my abdomen. I grinned sheepishly, not wanting to answer because I had no fucking clue either (other than the fact that only a few days earlier he was only a split second away from giving me a blow job.) Heero's chin rested against my shoulder and I could only imagine the expression on his face that made Hilde's eyes widen and her face plush fire-engine red before she quickly diverted her eyes back to Astarte (who she secretly wanted to marry.)

Quatre and Relena were still engaged in a fast paced conversation, and I glanced at Heero out of the corner of my eye. His eyes were closed, and he had the smallest of smiles on his face as he simply clung to me. It was such an innocent thing, that it didn't affect my libido at all (well maybe a little... but not enough to really say it did.)

I leaned back against him and before I could stop myself, I asked him, "Why are you…?"

He chuckled against my shoulder and nuzzled my neck, cutting me off as he spoke, "Because I want to, and you do too."

I couldn't argue with that. Hell, he'd seen me lusting after him, any arguments I might have made would have been stupid anyway. Besides, why would I want to argue with someone who was currently worshipping my neck with his tongue? I pretty much blocked out everything around us at that point, simply leaning into Heero's warmth. The world didn't exist, and it was only he and I floating through the vastness of space.

Of course, my luck being what it is, my little Heero-filled world shattered as Relena cleared her throat to get our attention. I whined in annoyance, "'Leeeennnaa!"

She smiled at us and pointed towards the door, "We're going to go get something to eat; you two want to join us?"

The rest of the Posse (Plus that Quatre kid) stood off by the doorway, all wearing different expressions of amusement. I felt my face grow hot and knew I was blushing profusely. Heero gently nudged me towards the door, only removing one arm as he let the other remain draped possessively around my waist. I decided I definitely liked the feeling, and snaked my own arm around him. I glanced up at him just in time to see a small smile grace his perfectly perfect lips.

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The next day, I was pretty much able to ignore the ghost girl, but she was becoming more persistent, appearing in front of me in the halls, rather than only appearing in classes. Her cold stare was becoming more intense and actually _worried_ as time progressed, and I didn't know what she wanted me to do. The little red-haired ghost hadn't said a single word to me. How was I supposed to know what she wanted if she didn't just say it?

The others weren't having nearly as many problems with her as I was. Sure, they saw her _stalking_ me, but they didn't know any better than I did what was going on. The only person who saw her as much as me was Heero, and I think that was only because of how much time we spent together (insert _massive_ blush here,) and not because he was supposed to.

So when I sat in the library after school and looked up to see her standing there, her eyes no longer empty, but instead eager, I wondered if maybe she was going to finally tell me what was going on. I elbowed Heero gently in the side, my gaze never leaving the ghost girl. Heero muttered and turned to look at me.

"What…?" He yawned. I simply nodded my head towards the girl as I stood, grabbing Heero's arm to pull him with me.

The ghost smiled innocently, and began walking hurriedly towards the newspaper archives located in the back of the library. Heero wasn't sure what was going on, but I gave his arm a reassuring squeeze as I pulled the door to the room open and looked around. The ghost stood off by one of the slid machines and I blinked in surprise as she pointed anxiously towards the huge books full of newspaper articles.

I stared at her in shock as her childish voice suddenly echoed throughout the archive room, "Find me."

I think I may have fainted.

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[1] "(friends…bound!)" – XD I couldn't resist saying something stupid like that.

I know I got reviews for the previous chapter. What I DON'T get is the fact that the reviews for chapter 6 and 7 were DELETED off of FF . net. What… the hell? Thankfully I got them via e-mail, so I'm not as pissed as I would normally be. My reviews went from 21 to18 (even though only 11 actually show.) I guess the problems with uploading stuff has seeped into the review system. Either that or mentioning lemons in a review is against the rules. Whatever.

BTW, thanks for reviewing everyone who did, even if your reviews don't show up. I know it was Hells-angel8 (I hate this site), XxMelodyxX, and Yasei Raiden. Thank you all so much! ::glomples::


	9. Search for a Shadow

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 9 – Search for a Shadow)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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I don't know why I passed out. I do know however, that I _did_ and that I woke up only a few minutes later with Heero leaning over me and looking at me with worried eyes (the rest of his face was pretty damn expressionless.) I mumbled incoherently and sat up, my head spinning at the sudden movement. I started to plop back down but Heero wrapped an arm around my shoulder and held me up.

"Thanks." I muttered, trying to lift myself up again (with Heero's help, of course.) By the time I stood up, my head was no longer spinning and I looked around the archives room curiously. "Does she…" I paused, my mind fuzzy for a moment as I leaned against Heero's chest, "…expect us to look her up in the archive?"

I suspected that Heero nodded as he answered, "I wouldn't doubt it. It'll be difficult, though. We only know what she looks like and nothing else. No picture…"

"No game." I sighed, glancing at Heero and smiling secretively. Dammit, he was gorgeous and he had the nicest hands and tongue… I blinked and mentally beat myself over the head, '_Now is not the time for thinking inappropriate thoughts! Now is _definitely not_ the time!_'

He stared at me for a moment, "Do you need any help walking?"

"Nah, I'm not dizzy anymore." I assured, pulling (hesitantly) away from Heero's welcoming form and walking precariously towards the books the ghost had pointed at. Her words still echoed through my head. Glancing clandestinely[1] over at Heero, I sat down at the table the books rested upon and opened the first one to start looking.

I heard his soft footsteps as he strode across the room and sat down next to me, grabbing the other book. You have no idea how hard it was for me to focus on looking for the girl with Heero sitting next to me. My mind was focused on his scent, his expression as he flipped through the book, and the way his hand clenched and unclenched on the table top. I was focused on his messy mop of hair, and the way his breath always came out even. Focusing on the problem at hand definitely wasn't going to work with him sitting right next to me. Or, for that matter even in the same room as me. I stopped pretending to thumb through the huge book and leaned my head onto my open palms, staring quietly at Heero's profile. Well, he can look through the books since he seems to have an easier time ignoring me than I'm having ignoring him.

He glanced over at me and quirked an eyebrow, "Nani?"[2]

"Hmm?" I continued to gaze at him. Smirking, he leaned towards me and pressed his lips to mine in a quick and chaste kiss, leaving me staring at him even more, "What, that's it?"

The smirk stayed and he turned back to the book, "For now."

I muttered and went back to searching through my book, knowing that I wasn't going to get anymore out of Heero.

I don't know how long we were sitting in that little room, but we hadn't found anything. Nothing at all that could even be considered a clue. What was worse than that was the fact I wasn't even halfway through the damn book, and Heero wasn't faring much better. How the hell did we get into this? Why us and not, I don't know, a group of prissy blonde cheerleaders who'd be scared shitless?

The library came in shortly after eight and shooed us out, her voice stern as she shoved us unceremoniously out the double doors. We were no further in our search than we had been four hours earlier. I wanted to punch something. This was too damn frustrating, and I didn't want to be involved, but I had a feeling that if I didn't find out who the girl was, she'd keep hounding me until I did. So I had to keep searching and hope for the best.

As I started to walk home, I felt Heero fall in step next to me. "What are you doing, Heero?"

"I'm going to walk you home."

"I see that, but why? Leif'll probably try and kill you if he sees you within six feet of me."

He chuckled, "Yeah, but I'll take the chance."

"Why?" I sounded like a broken record, but I honestly wanted to know why he'd risk his neck just to see me safely home.

"Because I think I love you."   

I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

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[1] "clandestinely" – First person to figure out what this means gets a… cookie.

[2] "Nani?" – I hate putting question marks and exclamation points with romaji. I know it's not proper, but what the hell am I supposed to do? XD I'll deal with wrong grammar for the time being.

A/N: I'm soooo sorry I broke my update pattern!! ::cries:: I didn't get a chance to post this on time due to a horrible case of hunger. I was so fucking hungry I kept writing about them eating shit. This is what happens when you don't eat for two days trying to write chapters for 4 different fics. XD Never again!! I'm not starving myself for you people! LOL Well, maybe occasionally. Anyway, two chapters today to make up for day lateness! ::huggles everyone who reviewed:: Next chapter will be up by 11 pm est!

XDXDXD Reviewers ROCK!

**Miaka** – Thank you for the kickass review. ::Grins:: You'll find out who the ghost is next chapter!

**Maureen** - I'm trying to finish this one! XD

**Hells-angel8** - ::Glomps:: My friend/beta/inspiration thought that scene was cute too! ::sweatdrops:: I'll forgive ff . net this once…

**Silver Cateyes** – Oo Oh-kay…. Thanks for the uh… eccentric review. ::sweatdrops:: Yay! ::steals banner::

**XxMelodyxX** – Fluff and creepiness are my specialties. Glad you liked the almost-lemon! XD

**Crazy-lil-nae-nae** – Glad you like it!

**Ladytigera21** -

**Taylor Mercury** - Wow. Long review! Me happy! ::glomps and huggles the ramen::  Oo 3x4 will be in before the 11th chapter, I promise!

Anyone I forgot? ::sweatdrops:: I don't know who I thanked and who I didn't, so I'm just sticking with the ones I know I didn't say anything about. Sorry if I missed you, and thanks a bundle for reviewing!  


	10. Koi ni Ochiru

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 10 – _Koi ni Ochiru_)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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Lust, sure. Figured that much. Feelings just a little more than friendship? Definitely saw that. But _love_? That was one thing I did _not_ expect Heero to say. Definitely did not expect him to so casually say that he's in love with me. Okay, so he said he _thought_ he was in love with me and not that he was most certainly in love with me. But the fact still remains that he included me in the same thought train as the emotion we all so affectionately call love.

Heero Yuy was falling in love with me. This was probably the best thing I'd heard all _month_.

"A-are you serious?"

He turned his head as he walked and stared at me, "Yes."

I wanted to melt into a fucking puddle. Melt into a puddle and then solidify and make sweet, sweet love to the gorgeousness that is Heero. I wanted to fucking _dance _and sing and pounce on him were he stood. My expression probably betrayed all that, too, since he smiled ever-so-slightly and put his arm out for me to grab. And grab it I did.

Heero Yuy loved me. Can you hear me squealing with delight? I still don't understand why I _didn't_. But I wasn't going to complain, not when he felt the same for me.

"That just made my day, ya know that?"

"Really?"

"Definitely."

He smiled at me, and I locked that smile away.

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Having gotten home in one piece (and making sure that Leif didn't see Heero walking me down the street), I was ready for a new day. Regretfully, that wasn't quite the case.

I awoke the next morning, with a pounding headache, a runny nose, and the fever from hell. It was extremely unfair and I wanted to scream and cry. Of course, I also had a sore throat, and screaming really wasn't that great of an idea. Hell, I couldn't even stand up without feeling like my head was going to explode. Of course, being the stubborn bastard that I am, I insisted on going to school anyway.

Well, I would have insisted, if I'd been able to get dressed and not fall down the stairs. Leif was unrelenting in his decision that I wasn't going to school after I had my little tumble down the last 6 stairs. It was embarrassing as hell, especially when Trowa, the other kid my age staying with Leif and his wife, decided to step over me without even glancing down.

So I didn't go to school. Instead, I sat in my room staring at the wall and urging it to start a conversation with me. Hell, I had rather sit in the library looking at newspaper articles than slouching around. Wait, that wasn't quite true. I would have rather been _anywhere_ making out with Heero. Or doing more than making out with Heero. They weren't the best thoughts to have when sick, but dammit, I liked them.  

I guess I eventually fell asleep, because the next thing I remember (after having very nice thoughts of Heero) was hearing Leif screaming bloody murder at the front door. It only took a second to realize _who_ Leif was threatening, and despite the fact I could barely talk I managed to shout out VERY loud.

"DAMMIT LEIF, HE'S NOT GONNA RAPE ME!"

I wasn't expecting Leif to leave it at that, but he did. Quicker than I thought possible, Leif stood in my doorway, one hand clutching the back of a wide-eyed Heero's shirt. If I wasn't so annoyed (and _really_ sick) I would have thought his expression was extremely cute, but Leif's attitude was really, _really_ getting in my nerves.

"This is the same kid that was here last week, right?! The one who was on top of you!" Leif's voice rang through my room and I glared at him, before glancing at Heero and seeing him mouth the word "boyfriend." Amazingly, I understood what he meant and the idea of it made me smile despite myself.

"Leif, he's my _boyfriend_. He wasn't trying to rape me. Completely willful." I sighed, my voice coming out raspy from my screaming.

He blinked, looking to Heero who stared back blankly. Loosening his deathgrip on Heero's shirt, he looked back to me and looked sheepish. "Oh."

I raised an eyebrow as he turned and left the room, muttering an apology as he shut the door. Now that wasn't the reaction I was expecting, but it was definitely better than him flipping out even more and killing Heero. So lost in my thoughts, I only half-noticed when Heero sat down next to me. Of course, that quickly changed to complete attention when he slid an arm around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder.

My breathe caught in my throat and my chest constricted, even as I murmured, "Why'd you suggest that?"

He turned his head slightly, and I felt his gaze on my cheek, "Aren't we?"

The constriction in my chest tightened and I smiled, my eyes locked on his, "I don't lie."

"Good."   

Sometime during that we had laid back in my bed, our arms wrapped around each other possessively. It was an amazing feeling, being wrapped in that embrace. Maybe it was the fact that I was sick, but I completely forgot to be turned on by his closeness. Or maybe I just felt so… safe, that sensuality didn't even ring in my mind. I didn't know what it was, but I liked it. I eventually drifted off, my body and mind clutching to Heero's warmth even in my sleep.

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A/N: I'm soooo sorry that this wasn't up yesterday like promised!! Sowwy, sowwy, sowwy! I've been... hosting Shinigami's Shack (which is Duo Maxwell's blog recording his attempts to get into Heero's heart [and pants!]), and that's been occupying my time. If you wanna view it (and interact with Duo!) go to ! I won't be updating this for a few days, as I'll be between going canoeing, packing my shit, getting on a plane, and cleaning my house to the point of shininess. I might not update this for… looks at calendar a while… But I'll try to update as soon as possible!

Reviewers, I want to glomp you all!!

**Taylor Mercury** – Yesh. You get a cookie (even if you weren't the first to figure it out, XD) because you figured it out AND left a very long review, lol. Thankies! Trowa and Quatre meet next chappie!   

**Nikkler** – XD You gave me a definition! ::glomps:: Thanks for reading so far!

**Miaka** – I thought you were crazy… O.o XD

**Silver Cateyes** – ::glomps:: Rat Race! XD Eccentricity is GREAT! Lol. Here is more! Ghost girl info soon! ::grins::

**Ladytigera21** – Yes. Yes she does. Lol

**Inuyasha-Luv-Kagome** – ::grins:: Had to bring Quatre in! I promised I would! ::sweatdrops:: Feel free to say who you think it is, a bunch of others have given their opinions. ::grin::

**Hells-angel8** – ::glomps and gives you a cookie:: First to say what it meant! Woo-hoo! I've heard college life is tough, but now you have me scared. XD

**Mite Mite** – n.n Now… you know!

**XxMelodyxX** – Uh… sorry? ::sweatdrops:: I'm thinking that was… sarcasm? ::grins:: Yay! You can see that I updated. XD

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! If it wasn't for all of you, I wouldn't of gotten this far! ::glomps you all::


	11. Progress

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 11 – Progress)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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I was still pretty sick after only 2 days, but I didn't want to stay home longer than I had too. While I'd started to enjoy staying home (all those stimulating conversations with the wall!), I had to find out the deal with the red-haired girl. The Posse wasn't being much help (they had other things to deal with, I guess.), so it was just me and Heero searching through thousands of articles in a small secluded room in the back of the high school's library. Oh, the possibilities of _that_.

"This is going absolutely nowhere." I said, my voice raspy. Heero chuckled from my left and I mock glared at his adorableness. The newspaper archives sat before us, opened and still refusing to release their secrets. I coughed roughly and he patted my back in what he figured was a soothing fashion. I sighed and turned to look at him.

"Maybe we're not looking at the right things." Heero mused, leaning forward and flipping through the pages as I stared at him, "It's possible that we're looking at the wrong books."

"Meaning…?"

"Her clothes. What era would yo say they were?" He looked up from the book.

"Uh… Late eighties, early nineties, I guess… Spring and summer stuff… Why? What does that have to do with…" My eyes widened, "_Oh_! I get you. Okay, so we can get rid of all books from… before 1987 and after 1993."

Heero nodded, "Exactly. Take also into account that the ghost is a _young girl_, meaning we skip over articles about young boys."

"And since she's haunting the school…" I began, trailing off as I stared up towards the ceiling.

"We need to look for accidents in and around Spectra High School." Heero stated, automatically beginning to sort through the books by year and season. He handed me all the books for summer month articles, and I beamed. We were making some progress at last, and I wanted to kiss Heero for that moment of brilliance.

So I did.

Twice.

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"Who's the blond freshman?"

I looked up from the archive book I'd brought home (yay for librarians who let you take home reference books!), locking eyes with one Trowa Barton. Heero sat beside me, idly skimming through another book.

"Blond freshman? Vague it up, will ya? There are a bunch of blond freshman!" I yawned and thumbed to the next page (I didn't think the ghost was a girl who ate 10,000 hotdogs in a week.)

I felt his eyes (correction: eye) burning a hole in my skull. "The new blond boy."

"Relena's friend? Oh, I think his name's…" I stopped, not quite remembering the boys name. Yeah, trust me to forget someone almost immediately after meeting them.

Without even looking up, Heero muttered, "His name's Quatre."

I grinned, "Yeah! That's it! Quatre! Geez, I totally forgot his name!"

Heero glared at me and I grinned wider, "Baka. Shut up."

"You know you love me!" I exclaimed, turning to face Heero and crossing my arms in a pitiful stance (even as I grinned manically.)

"Doesn't mean you're not an idiot." Heero retorted a small smirk on his face. I cackled and leaned towards him, capturing his lips in a mild (since I didn't want to traumatized Trowa… too much) kiss, nowhere near as searing as I had wanted. He returned the gesture with enthusiasm, and I smiled into it.

Trowa slowly backed away form us, his face blank but his one visible eye shining with amusement. "You two are really strange."

I pulled away from Heero and nuzzled his neck, my face still split in a smile. Oh, how true that comment was. He sneezed loudly.

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When we had a lead on her identity, the ghost girl had begun showing up less and less. It was a pretty nice, not having to worry about looking up in the middle of class only to see a transparent kid rather than your teacher. Hilde and the others noticed too, and seemed nearly as relieved.

Not that she stopped showing up period. She was still pretty damn persistent. Whenever any of us were in the library, she waited in the room watching us. Dorothy and Astarte had taken to coming with Heero and I every once in a while (since Hilde and Relena were actually _frightened_ of the squirty ghost.) so they could help us.

Even that new kid, Quatre, was joining us. As it turned out, he saw her too. He'd only been helping two days. Imagine our shock when he was the first to find anything important.

"Oh, Dorothy, Heero… I think I've found something!" Quatre's face was practically glowing as we all scurried to his side.

Three things on the page caught my attention, the date, the title, and the black and white photo of a little girl smiling back at us.

"Thursday, October 27, 1991 – 'Daughter of Millionaire Missing'" I read aloud, and whistled. Glancing over the article as Heero furrowed his brow.

"She was never recovered." He muttered.

"Yeah. Does it say her name?" I tried to get a better look at the article, but Dorothy's mass of blonde hair smothered my view.

"Yeah. Our local spook's named 'Mariemaia Khushrenada." Astarte's voice rang out smugly and Quatre beamed happily as he stood and took a bow.

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A/N: Sorry you had to wait for such a shitty chapter! I just want to get the ball rolling again, now that I home and with less time to be on the comp. Updates won't be as often as they were before, but I promise it won't take longer than two to three days to write a new chapter. I apologize for the lack of Trowa and Quatre interaction. I figured I'd just get Trowa to ask about Q first, than ease into the pairing from there, lol. Hope this was okay. Yaaaay!! I got the ghostie a name, but you all prolly knew that's who she was, lol. Most of you guessed it, anyway! Oo Eeek! This is a long author's note, no da! Weee!

Thankies for reviewing, reviewers! ::huggles you all:: Really appreciated, as usual!

**Miaka** - ::grins:: Yeah, Leif is kinda weird. He's an old character of mine. Oo Saneness _is_ boring. Refrain form being it.

**Silver Cateyes** – Oo Imp-demons? Okay… I shall read your fics when they are up, me promise (as long as you continue reviewing with such interesting reviews!)

**Hells-angel8** – I'm gonna make you a "best reviewer" banner. You review EVERYTHING, even other fics. Oo. I'll be updating again on Friday! YAY!

**Nikkler** – The others are really minor characters, and I was just waiting for the right moment to drag Trowa in. hope this was worth the wait!

**Sabby-chan Yaoi Fan** – XD I love your name! Oo Anywho, thanks for the review. (Hey, that rhymed!) Yay!! I got a trophy!! ::glomples:: AND PIZZA!!! ::devours:: Oo ::grins:: I update! Yay!

**Ladytigera21** – Actually, I was just running short of plot ideas at the time. So I made Duo get sick. ::sweatdrops:: Yeah. That's what happens when I have a dry idea well. I throw random shit in and work with it. Oo

**CaramelAriana** – Oo Now I want caramel, lol. Yes, fluffiness is great. In medium sized doses. I try to be original, but it's pretty damn hard, isn't it? XD

**Myca/Taylor Mercury** – (From now on I'm just calling ya Myca, less writing, no da!) Eeeek!! That's the longest review EVER. ::grins:: That's awesome! TROWA MENTIONS QUATRE! YOU SHOULD DANCE! Oo. My plans aren't working out. This story now has a mind of its own! ::eeks:: I like the way I write Duo, too, XD. I'm really bad at writing the other characters and 3rd person (so I don't!)

**Cpfeb** - ::grins:: THANKIES!!! ::glomps::

**I-L-K** – We're all lazy sometimes! Yeah, I talk to walls too. They're fascinating when they actually respond! Oo

**XxMelodyxX** – I hope this wasn't too long. I think it was only like, 4 days or so… I dunno. XD

**FREAK014** - Well, the chick who killed herself will play a HUGE role later in the story. So will her lovers. I'll tell you this much – ALL the ghost in this fic are connected by something. Nothing is random when it comes to MAJOR events.


	12. Awkward Searching

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 12 – Awkward Searching)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

If Mega-Ghost Squirt Mariemaia wasn't already dead, I would have killed her. Of course, given the fact that she was, in fact, VERY dead, this was completely out of the question.

You'd probably figure that I'd be _extremely_ happy that we finally figured out who she was. You'd think that she'd leave us alone. Yeah, right. That'll be a day of _rejoice_. Regretfully, when she asked us to "find her," she wasn't just talking about her identity. No, that would be way too easy. She wants us to literally find her. Problem with this? We have no idea where the hell to start looking. Sure, she was last seen at Spectra High School (her baby-sitter was a student at the time,) but that _really_ doesn't do us any good. If she was kidnapped, then she probably wouldn't be around good ol' SHS.

What really sucked about this was the fact that I was the only one really thinking about it anymore. Miss Ghostie was only appearing to me, occasionally opening her normally mute mouth to request that I get my ass in gear ("You're an idiot." – Ghost Girl Mariemaia.) Astarte was pissed off royally by this, and by the second week after we found Mariemaia's name, she had taken to stalking me through the hallways, claiming it to be unfair that I get to enjoy all the "ghostly fun."

"It's so totally unfair that you get all the ghostly fun, D!" (I'm not exaggerating. At all.)

"Dammit, Astarte! You sulking along with me _definitely_ is _not_ helping at _all_." I growled, whirling on her and brandishing a finger in her direction. "I don't know _why_ she's only bugging me now! Hey, I got an idea, (insert sarcasm here) why don't we _switch names and see if that helps_!?"

That was the first time I'd ever yelled at any member of the posse. People stopped walking in the hallway to stare at me, Duo Maxwell, flip out and get all pissy at her, Astarte Yuy (How the hell could she really be related to Heero??). However shocked the student body may have been, it was nothing compared to my astonishment when Astarte fell over laughing, trembling as she let out a loud cackle.

"'Bout time you got frustrated!" She exclaimed through giggles, "We all knew this was annoying you! You're better at hiding shit than my brother is!" Her giggles faded slowly as she wandered into her class, leaving me standing in the hallway with a flabbergasted expression on my face.

'_What… the hell?_' I thought. Shaking my head, I continued on my way down towards my class (… I was blackmailed into band by Dorothy and Relena.)

Or, would have, had I not suddenly been met with an image my mind really _did not_ want to process.

"_Holy shit, Trowa_! What the _fuck_ are you doing with your tongue halfway down Q-ball's _throat_?!"

To say that they were surprised is a vast understatement. Hell, I hadn't even known they'd met (let alone that cute little innocent Quatre Winner, newest member of the Posse, was gay) and I definitely wasn't informed when they started making out in hallways between classes. Thank whoever the hell will listen that the hallway was deserted (hurray for late bells!)

"D-Duo! Why aren't you in class?!" Quatre eeped and I grinned widely.

"Normally I'd retort with something witty about why you're not in class either, but," I glanced at Trowa and nearly fell over, "I think it's pretty obvious why. Enjoying yourselves?"

Tomato tinted Trowa blinked. Fire truck red Quatre gasped and buried his head in his hands and chuckled to himself. I grinned widely, flicked my braid at them, and walked by them, twirling around.

In a sing-song voice, I joked, "Either find a janitor's closet or get to class, buh-ddies!"

I think they did the former.

"Get up, Duo."

"No."

"Duo."

"Bite me!"

"Hn."

"OW! WHAT THE _FUCK_ WAS THAT FOR?!"

"You told me to bite you, so I did."

"On the _hip_?!"

"Why not?"

I stood slowly up from the library floor and stuck my tongue out at Heero, all the while rubbing my poor abused hip. He had this smug grin on his face as he kissed my nose, and he promptly dragged me from the room. Someday… I will avenge my bitten hip. Oh, vengeance shall me mine!

"Where the hell are we going, Heero!" I sighed, swatting his hand playfully.

"We have an appointment to keep." His voice had humor in it. I didn't like that tone.

"Huh? What are you talkin' about?"

"Well, two, actually." A fake air a musing materialized on his face.

I really didn't like this sudden… oddness.

"We're going to speak with Trieze Khushrenada."

"Who?" At the time, the name didn't ring a bell.

"Mariemaia's father. I told him we're doing a report on his daughter's disappearance for a journalism class, and asked if we could ask him some questions." Heero's voice was serious again and I blinked.

"He agreed?"

"Obviously."

"What about the other appointment?"

"I'll inform you on _that_, later." His eyes promised mischief, and things were starting to look up.

A/N: Oo Sorry that this is so short and pathetic. I was away for like a week with my friend and her wonderfully amazing family cruising the beach and killing random sea creatures. Sunburn is a bitch and I had no clue I'd be gone so long when I wrote the last chapter. SORRY SO VERY MUCH!! PLEASE NO KILL POOR PICO-PICO!! Oo Yay, I'm crazy! JOIN THE FOAMY CARD CULT TODAY! Xx (P.S. NO PROMISE ON UPDATE DATE, SINCE I DUNNO!!)

Reviewers, I love you… Oo As always. XD

**Sabby-chan Yaoi Fan** – Yay! ::sweatdrops:: names are fun!

**Hikaru** – Soooo sorry this chapter wasn't sooner! ::dies:: but thanks for the review! ::glomps::

**I-L-K** – COOOOOOOKKKKIIIEEEEEEEEEEEESS!!! ::Cackles:: Oo Yeah, my friend is a 3x4 fan, XD ("PICO! DRAW ME A PIC OF TRO-CHAN AND QUATRE!! NOW, YOU MOOCHER!" – J-chan aka Trowalovesquatre on gaia. XD)

**FREAK014** – Who is this "we" you speak of?? Oo

**Myca** – EEEEEKKK!! Hope you enjoyed the tiny 34 mention in there. I know it's lame, but that's what came out of my trance writing (I'm rarely aware of what I write when I'm writing it. Oo) You remind me of my before mentioned friend… ::sweatdrops and pats you on the back:: that was such a random review I have no idea how to respond, XD.

**Silver Cateyes** – ::ish glomped:: And you had to wait so long for this!! I'M SO VERY SORRY, NO DA!

**Nikkler** – I read one of your fics and promptly felt like an idiot when I reviewed, XD… Here's the update…

**CPfeb** – ::dies:: I will someday write a lemon… someday. This story shall be VERY long though (I'm goin' for 40 chapters, ya know!) and a lemon will be in the 20s, me thinks.

**Ladytigera21** – Nope, not shocking at all. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, no da!!!

**XxMelodyxX** – Ya had to wait a while for this one, though… EEK!! ::dies:: And yes, the plot DOES thicken, XD

**Hells-angel8** – Phwee!! XD Feel free to shoot me for not updating when I said I would! Plot holes can be fun, when used correctly… ::sweatdrops::


	13. Not Yet Spoiled

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 13 – Not Yet Spoiled)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

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"What do you mean he won't see us?" Heero's voice was deathly calm as he spoke to this perky dirty blonde woman. It was almost funny, actually.

"Exactly what I said! Mr. Khushrenada is a very busy man, and he's been detained by serious business!" the woman said for the third time.

"I understand that, but why can't he take 15 minutes from his busy life to answer a few questions." Heero paused, "So that we don't fail our assignment."

The woman looked to me with a flabbergasted expression. She'd obviously never met someone as insistent as Heero. I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head.

"Uh, Miss Po, right?" I questioned and she nodded, "When'll be the next time Mr. Khushrenada we could try to get an appointment with him?"

She sighed in relief that I wasn't being insanely insistent, "Well, the rest of this week he's out of state, but he has very little planned for the last week of October. I can schedule you in for sometime that week, alright?" She looked pointedly at Heero, and he opened his mouth to protest. All that came out was an eep as I stomped on his foot.

"Thank you so much Miss Po!" I exclaimed and grinned widely at her.

"I already have this lugs phone number, so I'll give you two a call when I have a time for you."

"Right-o!"

And we left Mr. Khushrenada's living room and headed out.

-------------------------------------------

"So…" I muttered as I plucked the hairs out of my brush.

We (The Posse and Heero, of course) were all sitting around Relena's house, mostly brooding or being miserable. Halloween was quickly approaching. And so was October 27. It was only a few more days until Heero and I met with Mariemaia's reclusive father, and only a few days after that was the day that said ghost girl had vanished. I was totally distraught because of that initial failed meeting. Since that had ended up as shit, so failed the one Heero had hinted at. You know how much that pissed me off? I mean it _really_ pissed me off. I'm willing to bet my _entire life's savings_ (Which is actually only about $25…) that this other "appointment" was something I'd been looking forward to for a _long_ time (i.e. him and I finally finishing what we started only a few weeks prior.) But, alas, it didn't look like I was going to find out any time soon. Bummer. Damn you, Trieze Khushrenada!! You're business trips have ruined my life!!

… Anyway, I sat there playing with my hairbrush while the others stared off into space. "Geez… we're a dead bunch."

Dorothy gave me a distasteful stare. "Bad joke, Duo."

I shrugged, "Well, none of us are really making any attempt to _act_ alive."

Heero snorted at my comment and tightened his grip around my waist. (We were sitting on 'Lena's bed, with me basically sitting on his lap. Completely comfortable, _thank you_.) The movement made me grin despite myself. Although our appointments were both shoved to a screeching halt… Heero was still one possessive bastard. I leaned back as the wonderful gals (and Quatre) shook their heads at us before resuming their brooding. I was completely aware that the whole situation with Mariemaia and Mr. Khushrenada had them all on edge. Hell, I was on edge more than they were, but that wasn't gonna make me act all… mopey. That was when I decided the most intelligent thing (and probably the one thing that would help our investigation.) to do at a time when we were all basically miserable.

"Spectra give students Halloween off, right?" I asked, twisting my head to look from one face to another.

Astarte nodded from the pink sofa nearby, "Yeah. We have a four day weekend. Why?"

"I was just thinking…" I paused, glancing up at Heero as he raised an eyebrow, "Why don't we go back to Wiwa that weekend? I think maybe… We'll figure something out there."

They all gave me weird looks.

"Duo…" Hilde warned, glancing back and forth between Astarte and Dorothy (both of which had identical evil grins on their faces.)

Astarte jumped up and twirled, "Duo, I think that's a brilliant idea! They think Halloween will be unusually warm this year, and we'd see that other ghost again!"

"Wiwa?" Quatre questioned, his aqua eyes wide an innocent. (That guy wasn't innocent. I saw the way he and Trowa were making out!)

Dorothy's grin widened, and Relena seemed to get nervous as Astarte began to rant about the wonderfulness of Wiwa..

I knew there was a reason I was friends with Astarte.

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**A/N**: Eeeek!! ::ducks flying objects:: I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry!! I'm not at fault!!! ::ducks rotten fruit:: Geometry, English, and Biology (not to mention band, creative writing, U.S. History, driver's ed. and computer graphics) have taken up ALL MY FREE TIME!! I started working on the next chapter of this (14!!) today in English (Rather than doing my essay on "Of Plymouth Plantation…") so I haven't forgotten… I'm just hectic and I feel like evil crap for not updating!! ::huggles:: Forgive me??

**I-L-K** – We all need friends like Duo. The Posse… that's questionable. XP

**Silver Cateyes** – XD ::cringes:: Eww… formal wear…. It's always very uncomfortable…

**Siren of the Darknessflame** – tends to delete underscores. XD I'll put a link up for on my profile. Thanks for reviewing, BTW!

**Named** – This is completely AU (alternate universe) It takes place kinda now (except October…) And I'm aiming for 40… Might have more, might have less. All depends on the muses. ::glares at Nao-chan and Asta-chan as they play video games rather than perform musely duties::

**FREAK014** – Really? Me too. I'm legally considered insane and I'm on more medication than I can name… XD (All my voices are named and are currently telling me to kill a gopher.)

**Mite Mite** – I'm SORRY!! The smut meter is DYING!! I promise, you will have smut soooooooooon!! (i.e. when Nao-chan decides to be nice and Asta-chan stops chewing on my left leg.) ::glares at Firestar:: Ya shoulda aimed a desert eagle at meeee!!

**Nikkler** - ::insert massive sweatdrop:: Those sea creatures were EVIIIIIIIIL!!

**Myca **– Duo makes an observation about Treize's eyebrows in chapter 14… (which I have 3 paragraphs of) LOVE THE HALF-EATEN FLOWER!!! ::glomps::

**Hikaru** – lol yeah, this sorta took a LONG time. I feel so cheap…

**Hells-angel8** – I haven't reviewed your fic this weeeeeeeeeeek!! ::cries:: So sorry!! Alas, this one is short too… with less of a plot… ::sighs::


	14. Who Says Eyebrows Aren't Interesting?

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 14 – Who Say's Eyebrows Aren't Interesting?)

Disclaimer: See first chapter

Mr. Treize Khushrenada was a tall and extremely handsome man. If it wasn't for the fact that he and Dorothy both had those unnerving forked eyebrows, I might have been drooling when we finally spoke with him. (He wasn't as good looking as Heero, though.) Mr. Khushrenada had ginger colored hair (kinda wispy, actually) and he held himself like royalty. Which basically (in terms that are easy to understand) caused me to feel like an insignificant worm. Heero, of course, somehow managed to fit into the whole "aristocratic-ness" (which was how I later described Treize to the Posse) Heero gave this guy a run for his money.

"We realize this is a sensitive subject for you, sir, but we are in need of whatever information you may be able to spare." Heero's voice was calm and collected (though insistent at the same time. Very sexy.)

"I understand that. However, you haven't answered my question. Why do you need the information so badly?" Mr. Khushrenada paused, raising an eyebrow majestically (Insert me twitching at it's forkedness.), "And please, do not feed me the line about a journalism assignment. I have looked into at your class lists, and am fully aware neither of you are in a journalism class."

I looked at Heero, shocked that Mr. Khushrenada had actually looked to see if we were telling the truth. He reached out and grabbed my hand as I opened my mouth to speak and squeezed gently, and I assumed (accurately, might I add) that he wanted me to be quiet. I blinked, returning the pressure to say I understood as I turned away and sighed.

As Heero spoke, his voice was composed and he calculated every syllable and stressed every point to it fullest, "Fine. You want to know the real reason we're here? I doubt you'll believe us, but we'll tell you anyway."

Mr. Khushrenada leaned back in his chair and looked us over. (Did I mention we were sitting in this huge room, with chandeliers and shelves upon shelves of books and knick-knacks?) "Continue."

"We are able to perceive complex spirits."

A normal person would have stared at Heero like he's grown a second head. Treize Khushrenada? He quirked those damn eyebrows (insert FLCL like eyebrow obsession here…) and smiled. "So _that_ is what this is all about."

My turn to raise my non-forked eyebrows.

"You're here to claim you've been _visited_ by my daughter's ghost." His smile vanished, "I assume you were going to ask me for money so you can complete your _scheme_?"

Heero's eyes narrowed and he grunted, "We are not interested in your money, Mr. Khushrenada. We are here, sir, to find out what we can in order to locate her and finally get her to leave us alone."

I nodded in agreement, finally saying something, "I'm getting kinda tired of a semi-transparent 12-year-old telling me I suck and that I need to get a move on."

Yeah, I know it was insensitive. But it was true. I wanted to get on with my life and not have to worry about solving the mystery of Mariemaia Khushrenada's untimely death. I really didn't care what Mr. Khushrenada thought about me, anyway. (He can take his eyebrows and shove them up his ass.)

Mr. Khushrenada stared at me for a moment, before looking back to Heero. "You are serious, aren't you?"

"Yes." Heero and I chorused.

Mr. Khushrenada sighed, rubbing his face and looking at the wall to our left, which held a picture of the girl known as Mariemaia. "What do you need to know, then?"

Heero nodded, setting back into I'm-the-boss-you-answer-my-damn-questions mode, "Right. We need to know of any friends, estranged family members, or anyone associated with your family who may have been near your daughter when she vanished."

I stared at Heero. How did he do that? He sounded like a freaking cop who got left back as a junior in high school. Yet again, it was extremely sexy. And I completely zoned out and missed most of what Mr. Khushrenada said. Go me.

Thankfully, Heero (being such a resourceful person) had been intelligent enough to actually record our conversation. I really wished our "appointment" hadn't been canceled.

…………….

Anyway, I spent the next night (thankfully it was the Thursday before Halloween, which was a Sunday, and the school had given us a four day weekend. Hurray, school!) listening to the tape repeatedly and each time through I understood it less and less. In no way am I a stupid person. I just have trouble with things that I sat through, but didn't focus on. So the tape was pissing me off. It was time to call in the troops. (i.e. The Posse, Heero and since Quatre and Trowa were inseparable, Trowa too.)

TBC

A/N: For any of those who wonder what ages and stuff I've made the characters… here's a fun little chart!

Seniors: Dorothy, Trowa

Juniors: Heero, Relena, Wufei (Yes, he'll be in this story. Eventually.)

Sophomores: Duo, Astarte, Hilde, Meiran (so will she.)

Freshmen: Quatre

I bet no one cared, but I thought I'd share the joyousness that is the grades… XD ALSO! SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I wasn't motivated. (I.e. My English teacher is a bitch and my U.S. History class is insanely difficult… TT) So, if you hate me, I understand! XD I'm not going to individual responses today…. Next chapter I will. Sorry if this is changing slightly, but it's my story and it's kinda… taking a life of it's own. :sighs: (P.S. THIS CHAPTER SUCKS!) I had to go back and edit it; I originally posted the wrong version of the chapter and it took me 8 months to notcie. Oo


	15. Are We There Yet?

Title: Wise Blood (Chapter 15 - Are We There Yet?)  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

* * *

Sometimes I feel like a real idiot. Especially recently; what with the dead chick issue, the rabid sexual frustration, and even more annoyance with figuring out how to find said dead chick. But I tried to ignore that stupid feeling (especially since it was drilling into my head insanely). Really, I did. 

Doesn't mean I succeeded, but hey, trying is half the battle, right?

Right.

By Halloween, I'd pretty much figured out what the hell Treize was saying in that goddamned recording. It took Heero, Trowa and Dorothy to explain it to me, but dammit, I eventually figured it out. Like I said, I'm not stupid, I just have trouble with shit I've already heard.

Anyway, apparently Mariemeia's mother got pregnant before marrying Treize, and they were to be married a month after the kid was born. Turns out that Treize found out that his fiancée was having an affair, and she killed herself shortly after Mariemeia was born for fear of his reaction. Mr. Creepy Eyebrow Man was actually friends with the guy his fiancée was going around with, and neither of them understood why she would kill herself when they could have just 'discussed it like rational human beings' (- Mr.

Creepy Eyebrow Man). I agreed with that. Why the hell would you kill yourself over something that stupid? Whatever. Weirdly enough, this friend was the last person to see Mariemaia before she vanished but Treize refused to believe he may have had something to do with the disappearance of his daughter.

Even weirder than that though, is the fact that we've met this guy before. And it just gets better, since this same guy is related to a member of the Posse.

"He's related to who!" I asked as Heero finished explaining the tape to me, my eyes bugging and his face purely amused.

"He's Relena's older brother." He stated simply, taking a sip of his milkshake. We were in the local ice cream parlor, gorging on frozen goodies (it was buy one scoop get two scoops free day) and having an all around 'good time' (Do you sense the sarcasm?). And while our discussion was pretty damn serious, the atmosphere in Bark's was extremely relaxed. Some things are just not meant to be understood.

I shook my head, "I didn't even know she had a brother. When the hell did that happen?"

Heero chuckled, leaning back in the booth as I spoke. I considered (briefly) crawling over the table and kissing him, but figured that the manager wouldn't really like that much. "He's quite a bit older than her. I think he's in his mid thirties."

I did a double take, "Parents must be ancient."

"The father is. They have different mothers." He nodded and explained, and I laughed. He looked so amazing right then, and I couldn't help but just stare, ya know? It was one of those moments when I just couldn't believe how fucking lucky I was to be so near him. It was really, really nice. I was so enthralled that I just sat there and stared at him as he silently sipped his milkshake. Geez, he made it look so fucking sexy and I knew I was probably drooling.

"So!" I exclaimed, grinning at Heero's wonderfulness. "What are we going to do once we get to Wiwa?"

"Talk to Relena's brother," He stretched his arms over his head, not taking his eyes off of me, "Considering he owns the place."

"Oh, yeah." Not stupid. Slow. But not stupid.

"Baka."

Glad he found me so amusing, the bastard (But I still love him.)

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The Mothership was so crowded that I almost wished I had my own car (or magical powers.) Two new people had somehow managed to weasel themselves in, and I was forced to sit on Heero's lap. Hey, that wasn't a complaint. That was me being extremely happy that Tro-Tro and Quatre were joining us. Definitely happy me.

The trip to Wiwa was uneventful, with the exception of Hilde drooling as Quatre and Trowa started making out. Not to be outdone, I promptly locked lips with Heero. At that point, Hilde was screaming catcalls, Astarte was complaining that she was plagued with bad mental images, and Dorothy had to pull over. We got yelled at. It sucked. (But it was so definitely worth it.)

By the time we pulled into the parking lot of the wondrous bed and breakfast from Hell, I was ready to kiss the ground. Dorothy was a crazy ass driver, and I always seemed to forget that little fact - that is, until she got on the interstate. Holy shit. And she wouldn't let me drive her precious Chevy van. Meh. At least I'm not a stark raving lunatic like some people.

Wiwa was pretty much the same as the last time we were there, except the building was covered in Halloween decorations and the parking lot actually had more than 5 cars in it. I was probably dreading talking to 'Lena's brother more than I should have been. I mean, whatever info we found out would get us closer to find Mariemeia, ghost girl extraordinaire. So why would that freak me out? Could it possibly be due to the fact if this guy had any info it might get him (fuck, even us) into some big ass trouble.

What if he was the kidnapper? What if, what if, what if. Ya know?

I really didn't like "what if's."

At all.

So I think I took it rather well, all things considered.

For the millionth time, I was knocked out of my musings by Heero as he soundlessly snaked an arm around my waist. Definitely nicer than the train my thoughts had hoped onto. He gently caressed my side. Yep. Definitely nicer.

"So now we question 'Lena's brother?" I asked morosely. I would have rather been doing anything else.

"Not yet," he replied and I could've whooped for joy, "But we need to soon."

I sighed. Great. I didn't know why I was complaining. I mean, it was my idea to come to Wiwa for Halloween in the first place, and it was my fault for even bothering to get out of bed. But the promise of being with Heero really, really outweighed all things under the category of 'annoying shit' because he was most definitely the farthest relation to annoying you could find. "Oh well. A guy can hope."

His arm stayed around my waist before he turned me to face him right before we entered the B&B. A teeny-tiny smile graced his face and I grinned at him. "Let's go down to the beach first," he whispered, "and star gaze."

I liked that idea and the kiss we shared was a pretty good reply, if I do say so myself. "Mmm. Sounds fun."

An exasperated sigh greeted us quite suddenly, and I turned my head slightly to meet Astarte's eye rolling fun, "While I'm extremely happy that my brother finally has a boyfriend, I really, REALLY would rather not see him making out. Even if it is with someone as completely sexy as you, Duo."

I snorted, trying to hold back my laughter. But that didn't work. (Holding things back: Not something I'm good at.) So instead I leaned against Heero and laughed till tears, my face buried in his shoulder. It wasn't really a very funny quip, but I couldn't help it. She just sounded so serious. So I turned back to her, trying to make my face solemn as I said, "I promise I won't make-out and/or grope your extremely sexy brother in front of you."

It was Heero's turn to laugh (correction: chuckle) and I beamed at him as Astarte again rolled her eyes and snatched our bags from us. "Yeah, yeah. Now go away."

So we did. Well, we went down to the beach, at least. I don't know if that's really going away. If it is, then okay. As soon as we were out of earshot and Wiwa was just another building on the coast, and all worries seemed to kind of vanish, we resumed our kissing. I swear, I'll never get sick of that. We'd only had one major moment and I could count the amount of times we'd made out on one hand. But honestly, that stuff didn't really matter. Sure, it was nice, but it was moments like that, where we just kinda roamed the beach, that were REALLY worth it.

I pulled him down onto the sand next to me as I plopped down. The sun was setting, and I was content to just watch it slowly vanish over the horizon while I leaned on Heero.

"Duo?"

"Hm?"

"We are a couple, right?"

I glanced up at him (because with the way I was leaning on him, I felt a few feet shorter.), "Of course."

"Good."

"What brought that up?"

"Just what Astarte said." He shrugged, and my head fell into his lap. He smiled down at me, "I only wanted to make sure that I hadn't presumed something false. Silly of me, isn't it?"

"Just a little." I smirked. He knew I wasn't serious, and he leaned forward and lightly kissed my nose. I scrunched my nose up.

"Keep acting like that and I'll make you talk to Relena's brother by yourself." Heero threatened, his eyes gleaming. Sometimes I swear he was evil or something.

"That would be cruel and unusual."

"Hn."

I rolled my eyes. His lap was quite a nice pillow, and I stared up at the dark sky. "I don't wanna go back."

"To Wiwa?"

"Yeah." I grabbed a handful of sand and let it strain through the gaps between my fingers, "I wanna stay out here like this all night."

"Then why don't we?" he whispered, and I smiled. He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, and I grinned like a maniac when he called his sister and asked her to bring some blankets and a flashlight down to the beach.

As he hung up, I sat up slightly, "You serious?"

"If you want to stay out here," he motioned to the beach, "then let's stay out here. It's a nice night."

After that, it really was.

**A/N**: I am so, so, so, SO sorry for the HUGE delay in this. I was so wrapped up with Organic. I also realised, months later, that I posted the WRONG VERSION of chapter 14. There should never have been that last little section about Duo and Heero dressing like Gravi characters. Took me long enough, ne? But I fixed that already, and now I'm hoping that I won't make that mistake again. Ugh. I can't believe I promised 40 chapters. How the hell am I gonna pull this off? With a lemon too! Oh no! I'm so totally screwed! For some strange reason, I feel like I'm writing Duo completely differently than when I started this fic. If I am, blame the fact that I've been writing mostly Heero related fics lately. And yeah. That's all I have to say today. Has anyone noticed how random these author's notes are? Because I swear, I feel like I'm just babbling. O.o I prolly am. Whatever. Anywho, thanks to Mineko Yuy. You's the shit, lol!

Reviewers, Know this: I love you all!

**Hells-Angel8** : As always, thanks for the review! And yeah... Duo's just a horny little bastard.Myca : Long ass review. :Devours Pocky: OMG! Worship!  
** Silver Cateyes** : Thank you for being honest. I hope this is better.  
** Bex Drake** : Glad ya like!  
** XxMelodyxX** : Ahhh! I took out the graviness, because it didn't fit with what I had planned. :likes being worshiped: ALRIGHT!  
** cherreFREAK014** : XD The voices! They tell you what to DOOOOO!  
** Demonskid** : Updated. :smilely:  
** Drew** :le glomp: Yeah, some things never change about Heero, ya know? And even though you already read this chapter... I still expect you to review. :le heart:  
** Trio Wing** : You actually read the entire thing at once? What are you, NUTS? How could you focus on the banal illiteracy that is Wise Blood! LoL. Thanks. (You're one of the reasons it's updated! LiveJournal likes you:smile, smile:)  
** Ryoko3600** : Thanks!  
** Dark Devotions** : Tis updated!  
** Black Dog Goddess Suiyou** : Hope you enjoyed the unclean version, no da.  
** Duet** : Glad you liked it, and I won't hold the 11ness against you, lol. Trowa just really, really like Quatre and the fact that Tro-tro is a senior and Q is a freshman is really not that important. :smilely:  
** Yume nunarumon** : I'm sorry about that. I don't know much about anything but American highschoolness, but when I figure it out, I'll letcha know. :le smile:


	16. Some Things are Better Left Alone

Title: Wise Blood Chapter 16 (Some Things are Better Left Alone)  
Disclaimer: See First Chapter

* * *

Spending the night on the beach like that was nice. More than nice. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, no matter how cheesy that sounds. But hey, some of the greatest things ever said where cheesy as hell. It's what makes them so memorable. The only thing that sucked: My hair was a mess. I'm talking so much sand it was a miracle that my braid wasn't tan instead of brown. Heero thought it was funny. Of course, he doesn't have hair that's 3 feet long, now does he? No, he doesn't. So while he was finding my pouting amusing, I was busy trying to shake some of the offending grit out of said hair. It was the beginning of a really mediocre day, and that's no shit.

"It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, Duo." Heero said, his lips quirked in a little smirk as he tried (uselessly, I might add) to console me.

"Not as bad! Are you fucking nuts? All this sand's gonna take weeks to wash out!"

His smirk got a bit suggestive, "Would you like me to wash it for you until every grain is gone?"

Insert me stuttering a bit, getting naughty images that made me forget momentarily about my hair problem. "Shit, Heero. I can't tell if you're kidding or if you're serious."

"I'm serious. I can't say I'd limit myself to simply running my hands through your hair, however." As he said this, he reached out one of those gorgeous hands and stroked my bangs back, his smirk fading to a more thoughtful half-smile. Pale grains of sand trickled through his fingers and onto my shirt, and he just ran his fingers lovingly over my hair and face.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." I pouted, snatching his other hand and playing with his long fingers. He had pianist hands, I suddenly noticed, or maybe guitarist hands. I kissed his knuckles before grinning at him.

"Never," he smirked again, leaning towards me and completely bypassing my lips to place a little kiss on my cheek, "Nothing about you is bad."

Wrapping my arm around Heero's waist, I muttered playfully, "Except almost everything."

"Baka."

"And fucking proud of it."

Okay, so the first hour was decent (considering the abysmal state of my hair.) but the day quickly went downhill from there.

For one, Dorothy and Relena had vanished to who-knows-where. Bad thing about this? They took the damn Mothership with them! With my shampoo in it! I was stuck using Astarte's 'Brilliant Brunette' because, like me, everyone else had oh-so-intelligently left their shampoo in the van. Astarte was the only one who didn't. So I was using foreign shampoo when I took my shower, and it was just my luck that not only was the spray of the water too forceful, it was also freezing. Damn water heater wasn't working.

I was pretty damn happy when I got out of the ice-bath and into some nice, warm, comfy clothes. I was pissed off when my hair tie broke, dooming me to go around the rest of the day with my hair all over the place. Those damn tangles are a bitch to get out.

Normally, I would have borrowed one from Dorothy or Relena, since Hilde and Astarte both had short-ass hair. However... they still hadn't come back from wherever the hell they'd gone. Heero wasn't bothered by my hair being loose. In fact, the only good thing about the tie breaking was the fact that Heero spent most of the time he was near me running his fingers through my hair.

The day continued into the realm of crap. Trowa and Quatre were happily snogging in Wiwa's lobby (while a few girls working the counter stared on in fascination). Good for them, annoying for me. I kept wanting to throw the girls out the window (mostly when one of them eyeballed Hee-chan and I suggestively.)

By the time Dorothy and Relena returned, I felt like shit and just wanted to go back to sleep. They'd been with Relena's brother all day, softening him up or something, but honestly, with the day I had, I didn't give a shit.

It wasn't until later on that day that we actually went to talk to our only lead. He was pretty cool, but my opinion of him wasn't really important, considering we were questioning him on the murder of his best friend's fiancée's daughter's disappearance. Gods, that's a mouthful. Not too complicated, but still a mouthful.

We (being me, Heero, Trowa, Q-ball, 'Lena, and Hilde) were the lucky six chosen to talk to 'Lena's brother. Now I'm not saying that I didn't want to. It was a moment of the sooner we get this over with the better, and I was pretty fucking desperate to talk to this guy.

It was just... I was really enjoying myself (hair troubles be damned), and I knew that once we'd spoken to him all the fun would be drained out of the day and I'd just want to go home. I really didn't want that, so any mehness I felt towards talking to Milliardo Peacecraft was pretty well founded.

His apartment on the 5th floor of Wiwa wasn't as lavish as Mr Khushrenada's. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in. The second thing I noticed was that it was completely devoid of anything that might express personality. In fact, it was actually pretty damn creepy.

I didn't feel as paranoid when I noticed that the others, sans Relena, had all stiffened up after a glance around the sparse living room. It was pretty obvious that 'Lena was used to the bleak décor.

"Milliardo!" she called out, walking forward and leaving us standing by the door. I was feeling really subdued about then, wondering what the hell had possessed me to even consider talking to this guy. The only thing that kept me from bolting out the door was Heero's firm grasp on my hand and Trowa and Quatre's blocking of the door, and I was almost thankful for that.

I put on a brave face and looked around, my eyes landing on the only photograph in the room. It was black and white, and it looked like it was of a much younger Mr. Khushrenada, a lovely young woman who looked vaguely familiar, as well as a man with hair almost as long as mine and really light eyes. It was hard to tell what color his eyes were, but I didn't have to ponder on it long.

The man in the picture was Milliardo Peacecraft, and he had just walked into the room, icy-blue eyes looking at all of us before locking on Relena. "Are these your... friends, Relena?"

His voice was really, really radio announcer-like. Very compelling. It was the voice of a politician, and I wouldn't have been surprised if he was.

Heero's grip on my hand tightened, and I glanced at him. His face was set in a scowl, and I realized the death-grip on my hand was there to keep _him_ from bolting. I wondered what the hell would make him so tense around someone so seemingly trust-worthy. He hadn't given any clues that would've explained the tenseness, but I figured it wasn't the best time to question him. We had enough of an interrogation ahead of us as it was.

"Yes, Milliardo," Relena paused, examining her brother, "I'm sure you remember why we're here?"

His scowl rivalled even Heero's, "Of course, little sister. You've come to ask questions that there are no good answers to."

Relena looked completely composed, considering her brother's biting tone, "Exactly. And the sooner you provide those answers, the sooner we'll leave."

"Fine," He glanced at us again, staring at Heero for a moment with a slightly amused look on his face, "Why, if it isn't little Yuy! How are you parents?"

Heero's hold on my hand became almost painful, and I was almost afraid to see the look on his face as he snarled, "Don't talk to me, Peacecraft. I'm not in the mood for your bullshit."

I wondered what kind of bullshit Relena's brother might pull. I wondered why an simple inquiry about his parents made Heero spitting mad. And then I wondered if maybe he wasn't as trustworthy as his voice suggested. I noticed that Trowa and Quatre both seemed to becoming increasingly suspicious of Milliardo Peacecraft.

He stared at Heero with those eyes for another moment, before glancing at me with a raised eyebrow. He looked like he was about to say something about our entwined hands, but instead opted for looking away. I figured it had something to do with the mega-watt 'I'll fucking kill you' glare of impending death that Heero was shooting in his general direction.

A tense silence filled the room for what seemed like forever before Hilde decided that the murderous glares were just too much. I was really fucking relieved when she finally spoke up, putting to rest the previous moment and keeping Heero from strangling the platinum haired man, "Could you just, you know, tell us about the last time you say Mariemaia Khushrenada? This way we'll be outta your hair and you can go back to doing whatever the hell it is you do."

"I gave my statement to the police. I have no reason to give it to you." He turned from us, "You're wasting your time."

"We don't have access to police reports, dammit!" Hilde pressed, "Just tell us what hap-"

"Listen," Milliardo interrupted with a sigh, "Some things should just be left buried. Mariemaia is one of them. Even if the lot of you ever find her body, whoever put her there in the first place still may never be caught."

"That's not why we're looking!" I groaned, before muttering under my breath. I didn't want to say anything to the man, but I couldn't help it.

"Then he won't be caught. But isn't giving the girl a proper funeral just as important?"

'Whoa, was that Trowa?' I thought, glancing at said weird haired teen, 'Yep, that was definitely Trowa.' Sometimes that guy was just full of surprises (like how he and Quatre had gotten together so damn fast.)

"Milliardo! I can't believe you're acting like this!" Relena exclaimed, stalking to her brother and putting her hands on her hips. "We're trying to help Mr. Khushrenada's daughter, and all you can say is that it's all useless? You know the family! You should be the first in line to help us locate Mariemaia!"

"Treize didn't want my help! He refused my offer!" the platinum haired man retorted, gesturing violently as he spoke, "He claimed it was my fault! That I should have watched her more carefully!"

I stared at him. That didn't add up. Mr. Khushrenada hadn't said anything about Milliardo Peacecraft offering to help. He'd only mentioned, fleetingly, that Peacecraft was the last person to see Mariemaia. I glanced at Heero, and for the second time found relief in the expression on his face. It was pretty obvious that he was thinking pretty much the same thing. Either Treize wasn't telling the whole truth, or Milliardo was lying. The problem was, I didn't know either well enough to figure out which it was. But based on Heero's earlier reaction to his seemingly innocent question... let's just say I decided Mr. Khushrenada was probably the more honest of the two.

"The last time I saw her was when Treize had asked me to pick her up from softball practice. She had asked to go the bathroom at the high school, where practice was at, but she never came out of the building." He stopped talking, realizing we'd gotten him talking. He continued grudgingly, "I went in and checked for her, but no had seen her come in."

It was something, at least.

Now, I wasn't entirely sure if the meeting was useful or not. Sure, we got some more information, but it wasn't really something groundbreaking. We'd pretty much assumed something along those lines, but I guess actually hearing them spoken was useful in its own right, not matter how questionable the speaker may be. The actual useful information was on the back-burner, however.

I was more interested in what had gotten Heero so worked up. I was about to question him about it when we went down to the lobby, but didn't want to ask him in front of the others. He'd pretty much walled himself up, and it looked like he was expecting someone (most likely Peacecraft) to jump out of the shadows at him at anytime. I suddenly felt really bad for insisting that he be my support figure for the somewhat disastrous meeting.

"Heero..." I started, only to have him cut me off with a quick, small smile.

"Later, Duo. I'll explain later." He almost whispered, and I nodded, accepting the reply. I knew he would, but it didn't stop me from wondering just what the hell was going on as we all gathered our stuff and tossed it back in the Mothership. It looked like everyone was just as eager to get the hell home as Heero and I were. We'd barely closed the back doors of the Mothership before Dorothy shot out of the parking lot without so much as a "We're off!"

It was only when we were on the interstate heading back to Spectra that it dawned on me who the woman in the picture was.

A/N: Had to put Sexy Zechsy in this chapter (even if I did do some bastardization on him). Oh, and the woman? Yeah. She's important. My other idea... exploded. Yeah, it exploded (i.e. I forgot.) Sorry you had to wait so long for such a shit chapter... Did it really take me 6 months to finish this chappy! Holy Shit! O.o From now on, if I take to long to update, spam my e-mail with "hurry the hell up" messages. It'll probably get me going again. :sweatdrops: But well, I guess this was an okay chapter. It's one of the longer ones, but it's still so... I don't even know. I'm not sure WHAT's wrong with it, I just know there's something. And it's so freaking minor no one but me will notice (and even then I don't know what the hell it is TToTT). This story may finally lift from it's long-ass hiatus, but updates will probably be few and far between. Not 7-8 months, but at most 3 months, because I'm the world's most obnoxious procrastinator. Shit. These ANs are long as hell. I'm wasting precious space and I'm finding that I really don't give a shit.

Anyway. Reviewers, right. Thanks to everyone wo reviewed the last chapter, and I hope this was at least worth the wait. If not, I'm sorry. I've never been very punctual. I'm not gonna do individual response today. Maybe next chapter.


	17. Family History Part 1

Title: Wise Blood Chapter 17 (Family History Part 1)  
Disclaimer: See first chapter

* * *

The next few weeks passed pretty quickly, and it wasn't because things had somehow magically worked themselves out. I'm a firm believer in the fact that time is not at all constant, and I swear that those 3 weeks following Halloween were the shortest weeks I'd ever experienced. The hours seemed to last only a few minutes, and the minutes seemed like seconds. 

It probably had something to do with how completely out of it I was.

I was in the middle of panicking over everything that had rained down over my head in the previous months, ranging from the appearance of Mariemaia to the picture of the woman and Heero's aversion to Milliardo Peacecraft. It took me a week just to get an explanation from him, and I can't say I was particularly pleased with the answer (something about a date, a rodent, and a pack of gum).

So after panicking over all that, I decided to limit my obsessing to one thing at a time, and decided that the picture was the best train of thought to hop on. There was almost no doubt in my mind that the lady in the picture was the ghost woman we'd seen before, even if I hadn't been able to make out any details when she'd hopped off of the balcony. I wasn't really sure what exactly it was that made me think that, but hey, I'm not one to ignore some sort of improvement; and as far as I was concerned, getting a connection between spook number one and the last person to see Mariemaia alive was definitely an improvement, even if it wasn't really apparent HOW it was an improvement.

It just was.

------

There was a lot of fuss on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Most of it was from me, but that's beside the point. Heero, Astarte, Q, and Doro were going to some big shindig at the Peacecraft house with their parents, and Hilde, Trowa and I were left to fend for ourselves, considering none of us so much as owned a tux or evening gown or anything even remotely appropriate for one of those parties and the fact that we didn't have enough status to be invited, anyway.

I hadn't realized how loaded a majority of the Posse members were until then. I knew Relena and Q were rich as hell, and I knew that Doro wasn't far behind in the wealth race. I mean, Q's dad owned half the city, Dorothy's folks were old money, and Relena's dad was the freaking Governor, so I knew they had cash. But I never really noticed that Heero always ignored costs whenever we went out and that Astarte had an endless closet full of shit she rarely wore, anyway, until I heard about that party.

Heero was pretty insistent that I just go with him. I knew he felt bad for just ditching me, but it wasn't a big deal. I mean, Thanksgiving is when you're supposed to spend time with your folks, right? Well, he had parents to spend it with, so why would he feel bad?

I planned to do what I did every Thanksgiving: cook. I know, it sounds stupid. But I really loved to cook. Like, a lot. More than a lot. And I was good at it, too, which definitely made everything easier. It wasn't something that many people knew, mostly because it was kinda embarrassing, but I really, genuinely love to make meals for people. So every Thanksgiving, I cook. It was kind of weird because it was the first time I wasn't cooking for my parents.

I was mixing the batter for a cake when Hilde popped her head into the kitchen, catching me in the act.

I was a total wreck, mind you. Flour in my hair and all over my clothes, an awkward white splotch on my pants from the butter and a bit of an egg trying to devour my arm. The kitchen was almost as bad.

I waved a big wooden spoon at her, "Hey, Hilde."

She walked into the kitchen, eyeing everything pretty dubiously. I would have laughed at her expression, but I was too preoccupied with getting rid of all the damn clumps of flour in the batter.

"Are you seriously baking?" She paused, coming up beside me and staring at the cake-to-be, "Wow. You're baking... Why are you baking?"

I grinned, poking at her with the spoon, "I'm baking because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I always cook on Thanksgiving."

"Er... why?"

"Because it's something to do?"

"Uh-huh. Or is it because Heero's ditching you to go to a fancy cocktail party?" Hilde did that eyebrow thing.

I snorted, going back to mixing, "That's not it at all! He said he wouldn't go if I asked him not to, and I'm not asking him. He can't spend ALL his time with me."

Of course, I pretty much wished he would.

That was the problem with him being rich. His family expected him to be... I dunno, their ideal son or something, and Heero just wanted to be himself. I don't think his parents even knew he was gay, let alone that he was dating a ragamuffin (I absolutely adore this word, just so ya know) like me. I guess he liked letting them have their little delusions about him. Less to explain that why, I think.

They were lucky though. At least their daughter wasn't gay. I mean, that would have seriously sucked for the family, and would've meant that all that money they'd gotten their hands on would've gone to the trash. Or at least, that's prolly how they saw it. Or something. I don't make a habit of understanding the minds of the chronically rich and middle-aged.

Hilde smirked, "Relena'll invite you if you wanna go. She invited me, you know, but I have to help out with the Midgets since my mom'll be on kitchen duty all day. She really hates cooking on Thanksgiving, but I'm useless in the kitchen and Tom's 'not gay enough' to pick up a frying pan. His words, not mine."

I hadn't realized Hilde had such a huge family until after Halloween, too. I guess if she'd had both parents around things would have been less hectic, but as it was it was just her and her mom, plus her fifteen year old brother Tom and the - get this - five little ones that she affectionately called "the Midgets". It was kinda interesting listening to her talk about them, since it reminded me of what my parents were like. I still hadn't really gotten over their deaths, but hearing about Hilde's family made me really happy.

The batter was getting to the right thickness. "Why don't you guys all come over here? I don't think Leif'll mind, and hell, if your mom hates cooking... why make her, you know?"

Hilde gave me this funny-as-hell deer in the headlights look, "You sure? I don't wanna intrude."

I rolled my eyes, "As if I have anything better to do. You're my buddy, Hil," I brandished the spoon at her, "and no friend of mine is gonna have to baby-sit on Thanksgiving!"

"Cool!" A grin crossed her face, "Hey, you should invite Heero and Astarte, too."

"Hilde... They won't be able to come."

"Trust me, this'll be the perfect excuse for them to ditch the boring party. You KNOW Heero would do absolutely anything for you! Especially ditch boring parties he didn't want to go to anyway!"

"But his parents..."

"Won't care either way! C'mon, D! Just invite them over! You know you want to." She pouted. I hate it when people pout (unless it's me. Then it's okay.), because I have a tendency to not be able to resist pouty-ness. It was another one of those times, and I found myself shoving the cake-thing into the oven and trudging to the phone. She watched me dial the number like a good little nosy brat, and I scowled at her.

"Yuy residence." An unfamiliar voice answered, and I thought that it might have been his mom.

"Uh, is Heero around?"

There was a slight pause before she replied, "May I ask who is calling?"

"Duo, ma'am." I glanced at Hilde (she was examining the cloth flowers that graced the table).

"Ah, yes. Heero speaks endlessly of you. Hold on a moment."

I blinked and stared at the phone. Heero spoke endlessly about ME? Well, I'll be damned.

There was a bit of static on the phone, and then a slight yawn, "Duo?"

"Hey, Heero. Where you sleeping?"

He grunted, "Just dozing, really. What's going on?"

I shrugged, momentarily forgetting I was on the phone, "Well, a little birdie told me you probably don't want to go to that party, so I thought I'd invite you and Astarte over for dinner tomorrow night. D'ya wanna come?"

He was quiet for a moment, and I started to think that maybe Hilde was being a bitch again and that she was just lying. Before I really got around to deciding that Hilde was evil, Heero finally spoke up, "Sorry, my mom was hovering. I'd love to. I'm sure it'll be much better than that so-called party."

"Really? You'll come?"

"Of course. All you had to do was ask, remember?"

"Right. Then uh, be over by 4, okay?" I had a warm fuzzy feeling, kind of like a peach.

"I'll be there," Heero's voice seemed to smile in place of his face as he spoke, "I love you, Duo."

I was extremely proud of myself at this point for not missing a beat, "I love you too, Heero. I'll see you tomorrow."

And we hung up. Hilde, of course, was staring at me. "So they're coming?"

I nodded, going back into the kitchen to glance in at the cake. "So, was there a specific reason why you decided to drop by?"

A shrug, "Just bored. I figured you'd know how to keep me amused."

"Go play Halo. I think Trowa has the Xbox set up somewhere."

And that was all it took to get Hilde to leave my precious kitchen area.

-----

It was 4:30. It was 4:30 and Heero still wasn't there. It was 4:30 and I was done cooking, and everyone (being Hilde's family and Leif and his wife and the rest of the kids) was pretty damn hungry, and Heero still hadn't shown up. I didn't want to start without him, but it looked like I had no choice. To say I was irritable would be a SERIOUS understatement. I was beyond irritated, I was bordering on betrayed and furious. Mostly just annoyed, though. I was having a major "no one would pick me over a fancy party, anyway" attack, but I think I hid it pretty well considering that no one really noticed the slight drag to my step and the extra tension in my shoulders.

So we started without them.

Just as I was sitting down, the doorbell rang. I ran to the door (kinda stupid, since I think I may have knocked a few things over), composed myself enough to not look flustered, and pulled the door open, only to be faced with...

The entire Yuy family?

----

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reviewed (and even those who didn't). I gotta tell you all I love ya, considering the lot of you keep me going. Just so you know: All of my stories WILL be finished. I just go through stages where I write a lot, and where I write nothing. At the moment, I'm in a spastic writing phase - for a different fandom. But don't worry. This fic nor any of my others will NOT be abandoned (that includes the fics currently on an unofficial hiatus). Thank you! (Sorry, btw, for cutting it off where I did. I got bored and figured that this was a decent spot to stop, especially since the next chapter will deal with awkwardness, ghosties, hair-pulling, and, of course, Hilde getting hit in the face with an unspecified object. And any spelling errors are to be blamed on WordPad, since I refuse to use Works and my computer ate Word. No spell-check for me!)


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